DOUBLE HEADER DELIGHT FOR KESTRELS AS THEY BOUNCE BACK

Image Courtesy of Luke Simcock

It was back to winning ways for the Solent Kestrels Men’s senior team this weekend as they picked up a pair of victories in both the League and National Cup competitions. Saturday saw them hand London Elite a 103-63 defeat on the road in the capital, as they bounced back from defeat last weekend, before making the long journey to the south west to take on Exeter Spartans in the National Cup 3rd round, bringing home a 91-62 victory to advance to the last 16. Saturday’s win sees Solent move to 2-1 in league play whilst the National Cup victory sets up a last 16 tie at home against Brent Bulls on Sunday 2nd November 2025.

Ethan Round was the high point man on Saturday in London as he poured in 19 points whilst Andre Arissol added 17 and Luke Busumbru 13. Jakub Ofman had 21 points in the win over Exeter to lead the squad with Luke Busumbru adding 18 and both Andre Arissol and Elijah Lotriet chipping in 10 a piece.

Saturday was a formality after the first quarter as Kestrels turned on the style almost immediately, as they blew the game wide open with some sharpshooting, taking a first quarter lead of 26-6. It was much of the same in the second as Ethan Round and Andre Arissol took it in turns to make additional triples, pushing the arrears to 30 at 55-25 as the half time interval rolled round. The Kestrels bench brought the fire power in the second half as Wayne Kitenge and Tom Blower got in on the scoring act, before Ben Cope and Dawid Cimochowski also kept the scoreboard ticking the for the visitors, 79-41 after three periods. Coach Guymon was able to keep the line ups fresh through the final stanza as he rotated through personnel, ahead of the Sunday cup game, Kestrels taking a 103-63 victory home.

Image Courtesy of Dan Crowther

Sunday was a tougher test as the hosts put a real fight through long spells of the first half matching the Kestrels blow for blow. Kestrels would continue their sharpshooting early on this one as Jakub Ofman and Ethan Round knocked down triples in the opening possessions. However the Spartans would strike back through Ed Potter and Mike Lewis, keeping things close 22-21 to Kestrels after one. Exeter would go up 5 early in the second as the game the night before and the long travel looked as though it was having an impact on the Kestrels performance, along with some excellent basketball from the home side. A 7-0 run as Luke Busumbru and Jakub Ofman combined, saw Kestrels snatch back the lead at 35-29 and forced the hosts into a timeout. It was back and forth to close the half but Wayne Kitenge would beat the half time buzzer to give Solent their biggest lead of the game so far, 43-35.

A 9-0 run to get the second half under way capped off by a Luke Busumbru break away score, ballooned the lead to 52-35 and saw the Spartans call for timeout early in the half. Exeter did respond with their own 5-0 run but that would spark a flurry of exchanged baskets, which left the lead out at 71-52 by the time the quarter wrapped up. Kestrels young core would continue to build the lead as Elijah Lotriet knocked down a pair of triples whilst Ben Cope sliced his way to the hoop on a number of occasions, wrapping up a 91-62 victory.

Kestrels have another break in the schedule this coming weekend before welcoming London Lions II (NBL D1) and Brent Bulls (National Cup) in a home double header weekend on 1st/2nd November 2025. Tickets for those games are on sale now; https://www.solentkestrels.co.uk/tickets