National title glory in EABL final for Myerscough basketballers

The 2025/26 EABL Academy League Finals took place on Thursday at the Essex Sport Arena, with Myerscough overcoming Manchester Magic 83-72 in the championship game, in an all-North West clash.

The two North Conference sides were almost inseparable during the regular season, both winning nine and losing one match, and beating each other along the way. Manchester won 71-60 in Myerscough in mid-October, with 'Sco repaying the favour in Manchester in January, coming out on top 78-71.

Magic's 11-point win trumped Myerscough's seven-point victory, sending the North Conference title Manchester's way, ahead of the final, which saw Myerscough national champions for a third time, and for the first time since 2020.

Barking Abbey were beaten by Myerscough 75-64 to open the playoffs before a victory against South Conference winners CoLA 70-68 set up the final.

You can watch a replay of the game in full here.

The game was tied at 34-34 at half time, but a third quarter 18-2 run put 'Sco in the ascendency, but they still needed a fourth-quarter 10-2 streak to create the cushion needed to see the game home.

In a hard-fought contest, the MVP award went to a player with a workmanlike stat line. Myerscough’s Salomi Latidan's eight points came on 80% shooting, adding 10 rebounds, seven steals and four assists, also going turnover-free across his 23:07 of action.

Myerscough’s Harry Sheehan (20pts) top scored, and Zach Trezvant (9pts, 13reb) neared a double-double.

Salomi said: ‘’Honestly, I don't really expect it. But then again, I felt like I just stuck to play my role in the game.

‘’I mean, they didn't give up, they were obviously going to come back because it’s the EABL finals, no team is just going to put their heads down and give up. But in the end, we're able to see it through and we'll take away the win.’’

Myerscough Head Coach Lewis Scott said: ‘’I'm really proud of the boys. We've got a really, really talented team, but I feel great right now.

‘’It's a great feeling for the boys in terms of the year that they've had, the work rate, the morning practises and this one feels like a collective championship in terms of every member of staff.

‘’It's with these guys every morning. It's great that they've got the reward for all that hard work.

Myerscough lost in the EABL final in  2025 to Barking Abbey, and some students who played then also featured in the victory.

Lewis added: ‘’We had some of the returners that played in that game last year as well.

‘’And, I assisted that game last year and it hurt, so coming into this year and coming into this game, I think the focus and the mindset was completely different. It was great from the guys again.

‘’Our biggest asset this year has been our defence.

‘’We have a lot of physicality within the team. But defensively, that's been our mantra. We knew we were going to have to win it on that end of the floor.

‘’Thankfully in the second half, we really showed that. And obviously, Salomi getting his award, that's just a cherry on top. I've seen the hard work that he's been putting in this year.

‘’Over the Easter college break, we have European Super Finals to go to.

‘’So there's no rest for these guys. They're going to go again. And we'll be right into May before these guys can have any time off. Hopefully the other ones can end like this one as well, and hope you get the victory.’’

There's much more about Myerscough's victory on Instagram and Facebook