BUOYANT York Eagles under-14s basketball team annihilated rivals Stockport Falcons to clinch a place in the national play-offs.

Earlier in the season, York had suffered a 24-point loss to the Falcons.

But in the re-match, the Eagles were in compelling form to rack up an emphatic 91-31 success.

The opening quarter effectively clinched the game with York powering 32-5 ahead with Rory Thompson totalling half the Eagles’ plunder.

By half-time the advantage was an unassailable 53-11. Though York’s momentum slowed in the final two quarters, they still produced 18-10 and 20-10 successes.

There were several candidates for man of the match, including Joe Henderson for notching double figures; C J Charlesworth’s court leadership; the scoring exploits of both Thompson and Milan Manandhar; and the excellent defence of recent England recruit Tom Flatters.

But the honour went to Kiran Thapa for his taking the ball hard to the basket and getting badly fouled and then scoring one of his two free throws despite being injured.

The moment of the match was Flatters coming off a hand-off pass and feeding the ball to Thompson, who cut in for an easy basket.

Enthused coach Dave Smith: “It was good execution on offence giving a lay up.”

Added Smith: “It was a great first quarter performance and the question that begs to be answered is how could York have possibly lost to such a poor Stockport team first time around?”

Next up for the U14s is a clash against against unbeaten league leaders Manchester.

Said the coach: “Our play-off berth is secured – we now need to repeat the first quarter (against) Stockport for the whole game against tougher opponents.”