IPSWICH Basketball Academy, based at Copleston High School, finished their season on a high with a well-deserved bronze medal at the British Colleges’ Sport National Basketball Cup finals day

IBA have had a fairytale season, qualifying for the ‘Final Fours’ despite losing arguably their best player, Joel Keeble, to a horrific injury that resulted in surgery to have his knee reconstructed.

The team lost just one game during the regular season as they won their regional division title and then comfortably beat Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College before winning an epic battle versus one of the big names of under-19 basketball, Filton College (Bristol) in the quarter final.

In truth, the semi-final against Noel Baker School (Derby) was Copleston’s worst performance of the season – they never got going and their opponents didn’t even need to play that well to win the game.

However, the team more than made up for their poor performance with perhaps their best display of the season against Barking. The fear before the game was that Barking’s strength in depth combined with Copleston’s emotional state, after playing so badly in the semi, could have led to very one-sided scoreline.

However, this group of boys showed their phenomenal togetherness, spirit and refusal to quit by beating Barking comfortably – with all ten players contributing. In the final Noel Baker narrowly beat Loreto (Manchester).