Sharpshooting Bulldogs breeze past youthful Southwark Pride

Barnet shot 40% from three in their 95-59 victory over City of London Academy Southwark Pride.

Will Farquharson

Following last week’s defeat at home to Oaklands Wolves, the Bulldogs needed a strong response. They offered just that in South London, controlling the contest from start to finish in their best offensive performance of the season.

CoLA’s new £3.5 million basketball arena was the host for Saturday afternoon’s matchup. The venue is London’s first ever indoor purpose-built basketball facility, and reflects the academy’s excellent work in developing young British talent over the past decade.

Barnet were looking to become the first side to beat the Pride in their new home, after Southwark defeated London Stars 74-68 in matchweek one. Both teams came into the contest at 1-1, with the Pride looking for vengeance having lost both league fixtures against the Bulldogs last season.

The game began in scrappy fashion. Neither side was able to enter into a flow offensively during the early proceedings, with miscued passes and turnovers aplenty.

Little by little, the Bulldogs grew into the contest. Darren Ainembabazi started the game having begun last week’s matchup on the bench, and quickly made his presence felt with a well-executed baseline floater following some wonderful ball movement.

He turned provider soon after, hooking the ball into Vinnie Monaghan for an easy layup. Barnet thrive when playing at pace, but a more patient approach was proving impactful this time around.

Southwark, on the other hand, looked wasteful in possession and were showing understandable signs of youthfulness – just two of their starting five on Saturday were over the age of 18.

The Bulldogs went into the second quarter with a 23-10 lead and kept their foot on the gas. Cyrus Cato, who had played a bit part role in the opening two league games, entered centre stage with three quick 3-pointers.

Sable Cooper, meanwhile, was skillfully controlling the offence. Last season’s MVP did not have a single turnover against the Pride, and ended the first half as the game’s leading scorer. His gorgeous fake split the defence for a simple layup in what was the pick of his buckets.

The second half proved a similar story to the first. Monaghan has been the Bulldogs’ most prolific offensive player during the early weeks of the season and took hold of this game once again. His 12 points in the third quarter demonstrated a little bit of everything – two 3-pointers, two layups, and a baseline jumper.

Barnet now led by 30 and were out of sight, but Southwark, to their credit, kept effort levels high and gave their supporters something to shout about. Following a strong end to the third quarter from the Pride, 16-year-old Rafael Tesfay drained a tough midrange after smartly faking past Christian Gamble. A 12-0 run had the building rocking.

But Gamble is not one to shy away from competition; in fact, it elevates his game. The American shushed the crowd after knocking down a three, before later exchanging pleasantries with the Southwark faithful after winning the fight for a loose ball.

Cato followed suit, staring down the home supporters following his fifth 3-pointer of the afternoon. He added to his tally once more before the end of the contest, finishing with 20 points in under 12 minutes (6-10 3P).

The atmosphere gradually simmered down before the buzzer sounded to end an impressive Bulldogs performance. Barnet will host London Lions II on Saturday afternoon in a top-of-the-table clash, while CoLA Southwark Pride visit Barking Abbey.