Category: Magic

Manchester Magic

US College Update

US College Update

It’s March so it’s the time of year when US Colleges are in play-off action and with a number of our former junior players currently out in the USA playing at various Colleges we thought it would be nice to give everyone an update as to how they’ve got on this season.

Aaron Menzies (Sophomore) at Seattle University (NCAA Division 1) record 13-16
Seattle begin their WAC Championship play-offs against Utah Valley on 9th March
Season stats: Played 14 games, 14 starts, 21.8 minutes per game, 12.3 points per game, 6.1 rebounds per game, 1.1 blocks per game (Aaron has been out injured since the last update)

Patrick Whelan (Junior) at William Jewell College (NCAA Division 2) record 9-17
Season stats: Played 26 games, 25 starts, 35.7 minutes per game, 19.7 points per game, 4.3 rebounds per game, 2.2 assists per game, 0.8 steals per game

Patrick has picked up two awards All-GLVC Second Team and All-GLVC Defesive Team
and is a James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award Nominee

He was 3rd in his conference in scoring and three-point shooting percentage (44.5%) and led the conference in minutes played per game. 

Patrick also passed 1,000 career points at William Jewell this season, the 41st person to do so in the programme’s history.

Pharroh Gordon (Sophomore) at College of Saint Rose (NCAA Division 2) record 24-7
College of Saint Rose made the NE10 Conference Championships
Quarter Final 93 – 80 Win against Franklin Pierce, Pharroh did not play
Semi Final 63-65 Loss against Southern New Hampshire, Pharroh played 3 minutes and had 1 rebound.
Season stats: Played 20 games, 0 starts, 5.4 minutes per game, 1.3 points per game, 1.0 rebounds per game, 0.4 assists per game, 0.3 steals per game

Kingsley Nwagboso (Sophomore) at Connors States (NJCAA Division 1) record 14-4
Connors States begin their Post Season schedule on 8th March – 11th March
Season stats: Played 22 games, 0 starts, 5.2 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game, 0.6 assists per game, 0.5 blocks per game

Leah McDerment (Junior) at University of Massachusetts (NCAA Division 1) record 9-21
UMass made the A10 Tournament
Round 1 51 – 91 loss to Saint Louis, Leah played 40 minutes had 8 points, 2 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and a block.
Season stats: Played 30 games, 30 starts, 37.8 minutes per game, 6.2 points per game, 3.5 rebounds per game, 5.2 assists per game, 1.2 steals per game

Gina Brierley (Freshman) at Saint Leo University (NCAA Division 2) record 9-18
Saint Leo made the SSC Tournament
Round 1 55 – 91 loss to Fla. Southern, Gina started and played 27 minutes had 2 rebounds and  3 assists.
Season stats: Played 27 games, 27 starts, 28.7 minutes per game, 6.9 points per game, 3.6 rebounds per game, 2.3 assists per game, 0.9 steals per game

(data accurate on 05/03/2017)

Magic 2 U14

Magic U14s complete regular season

Manchester Magic’s two U14 teams have both completed their regular seasons.

Manchester Magic U14 finished second in the North Premier to secure a place in the second round of the play-offs.

Magic U14s

Magic’s second team became North West II Conference Champions with one game left to play, securing a place in the first round of the play-offs in the process, a hugely impressive feat for a team made up of U13s.

They were recognised at the recent National League Division One game between Magic and Solent Kestrels, receiving their trophy and medals from Harlem Globetrotters stars Flight Time Lang and Slick Willie Shaw.

Flight Time and Slick Willie then entertained the crowd at half time to promote their 2017 World Tour. They visit Manchester on Friday, 7 April at Manchester Arena. Tickets available here.

Trafford Magic U16 Spain

Trafford Magic U16s end Madrid trip on winning note

Trafford Magic claimed a dramatic 50-47 win over Swedish side Malbas to take third spot in the Under 16 event at the International Chus Mateo Academy Tournament in Madrid.

Coached by Aurimas Verbukas and mainly made up of Under 15 players, Magic began with a 99-43 defeat to Finnish team PHYK.

They were beaten 66-24 by local outfit Fuenlabrada and also lost 79-71 to Malbas in their final group game.

But they dug deep on the final day to beat Malbas in the battle for third place and finish the tournament on a high.

PHYK, who could count a number of Finnish internationals in their line-up, were crowned champions.

Trafford Magic U16 Madrid trip

See more photos from the Tournament on our Facebook Page here

Magic Trophy Winners 2017

Magic seal Trophy 3peat with win over London Lituanica

Manchester Magic maintained their spell over London Lituanica for a second weekend in succession to defend their National Trophy crown for the third year in a row with an authoritative  81-53 victory at Hertfordshire Sports Village on Sunday.

Having defeated their opponents 74-61 in NBL Division One League action a week ago, it was simply a case of different day, same story as the Magic achieved a swift double in League and Trophy over the club from the Capital.

The MVP Duane Morgan pic.twitter.com/2LT7ELwcM1 — Manchester Magic (@Mcr_Magic) February 19, 2017

A game-high 19 points, 5 rebounds, 6 steals and 2 blocks were more than enough for standout star Duane Morgan to emerge from this one-sided outing as the MVP.

Stefan Gill had 16 points and 8 assists, captain Jack Minister added 14 points and 6 rebounds and Simon Anumba 11 points and 8 rebounds.

“This was my first opportunity to play in a championship game and it’s a really good feeling to have won it.” Morgan said.

“We knew that we had to shut them down on defence, so that was a big emphasis for us, along with our high-tempo game.

“We now want to win the league and finish up as the number one side in Division One.

“There’s a great group of guys here at the Manchester Magic. They’ve been very welcoming and made me feel right at home. I feel like I’ve been playing with them for a long time. You want to play for your brothers and I feel like they are mine.”

Trafford Magic U16

Trafford Magic U16 off to Spanish Tournament

Trafford Magic Under 16s head to Spain this week to attend the International Chus Mateo Academy Tournament.

Trafford Magic U16 Head Coach Ollie Verbukas is excited about taking his team to Spain, he said: “The whole team is looking forward to this great opportunity to play and compete in the Chus Mateo Tournament in Spain, Madrid.

“This will help our U15 team a great deal and will give them a valuable experience playing against one of the best European clubs in Fluenabrada and against other top teams from Spain, Sweden and Finland.

“I would like to say a huge thank you to all the people that donated, helping the team be able to participate in the Tournament.”

The Tournament has 3 categories Under 14 and Under 16 Boys and Under 14 Girls, Trafford will face Under 16 teams from Finland, Sweden and Spain.

Tournament Schedule/Results (Times are Spanish times):
Friday 17th February
12:30pm Magic 43 – 99 HBA PHYK (Finland)
6:45pm Magic 24 – 66 CB Fuenlabrada (Spain)
Saturday 18th February
4:00pm Magic 71 – 79 Malbas (Sweden)
Sunday 19th February
12:30pm 3rd/4th place Magic 50 – 47 Malbas (Sweden)

Video of the games will be available here

(updated 19/02/2017 at 13:14)

Wales trio

Magic trio still in hunt for Wales U16 spots

Manchester Magic’s Sion Gordon and brothers Ben and Luke Gordos have made it through the latest selection round as Wales Under-16s continue to build for this summer’s Fiba European Championships.

The trio are in a 17-strong line-up, with further cuts to come ahead of the July 23-30 tournament in Andorra.

Wales, who are coached by Magic’s Aurimas Verbukas (aka Coach Ollie), are in Division C and play group rivals Armenia, Gibraltar, Malta and Moldova.

Arinze and Kaiyem

Magic quartet make cut for next England camp

Manchester Magic players Kaiyem Cleary (U18), Arinze Emeka-Anyakwo (U17), Greg Wild and Saul May (both U15) have been invited to attend the next England camp in April.

All four had a chance to show off their skills during a three-day training session at the National Basketball Performance Centre in Belle Vue.

This week’s training camp was also the first of two for England’s U16s and U18s prior to selection of Great Britain’s men’s squads for the FIBA European Championships next summer.

All the home nations will nominate U16 and U18 players for the first GB camp in June.

New Logo

The club appoints new chief executive

The club has a new chief executive following the appointment of Phil Gordos.

A trustee of the club since the start of 2016, Phil has three boys in the Magic youth programme and is well known to many of you.

A former assistant editor with BBC Sport, the 47-year-old starts his official duties on 2 January.

“It’s a very special club that has done so much good on and off the floor,” says Phil. “I’m looking forward to the job immensely and I cannot wait to get started.”

“It is great to have Phil on board in such an important job” said Joe Forber, a founder member of the club. 

“We have had great successes in the past but there is a lot to be done to flourish as basketball moves forward in a more competitive atmosphere. Phil has shown a great affection for our club and I feel sure he is the person to take us forward”.

Duane Morgan

Magic add American Duane Morgan

The Manchester Magic have added 6′ 7″ American big man Duane Morgan to their roster for the 2016-17 season. Duane is available to play this weekend at Lancashire Spinners on Saturday at 5:45pm and at Team Northumbria on Sunday at 4:00pm.

Morgan, from New Jersey, attended Adelphi University, a Division 2 College of NE-10 conference (the same conference as Ellis Cooper) on the East Coast, where he averaged 9.9 points per game and 4.9 rebounds per game across his 4-year career between 2011-2015. Last season he was playing professionally in Argentina before getting injured.

Basketball England

Magic and Mystics players get England call

Magic’s Aaron Martin, Josh Grant, Saul May and Greg Wild and Mystics’ Ashana Hinds and Khia Lee have been selected in the initial England Under 15/16 Squads following the Under 15 Regional Development Tournament.

There is a new development for the 2016/17 season in that all youth national teams will compete at the European Championships as Great Britain. The final selection for Great Britain Youth Teams will be in 2017, with the exact date to be confirmed closer to the day.

The camp in December will help to select 16 players for U16 England National programme who will be considered for the Great Britain U16 programmes and European Championships in 2017.