College team comes out on top in historic varsity basketball game

All photography: Benjamin Lester

A small slice of Imperial history was made on Friday as the annual Varsity basketball game was contested for the first time at an Olympic venue.

An intrepid crew of supporters made their way across London on Friday 28 Feb to the Copper Box Arena at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, East London to see Imperial College School of Medicine team take on Imperial College at basketball.

With the IC team being a division above the Medics, they went in as clear favourites; but this being Varsity at such a prestigious venue, who would feel the pressure most?

Before the game, Medics Captain Mohamed Gaafar said he was ‘optimistic about our chances’ especially with London Lions Head Coach and Chief Executive Vince Macaulay in their corner.

Vince Macaulay coaching the Medics

With tip-off at 4pm, IC quickly got the advantage though, with power forward #8 Jacopo Bono opening the scoring in what was an ominous sign. The medics hit back with a perfect long range jump shot from #6 guard Jin Low, but IC found their rhythm pretty quickly to go 8-2 up.

Team IC’s power forwards seemed to be driving through the Medics at will, with Bono in particular showing supreme speed and agility scoring from around the court. The first quarter ended 22-6 to IC.

Jacopo Bono number 8

As the second quarter got underway, the Medics were forced to tighten up the defence switching into a zone, which aims to lock up the inside. This was effective in stopping IC driving through so aggressively but came at the expense of offering IC jumpshot opportunities and IC #7 shooting guard Thomas Defferriere took full advantage with the first long-range 3-point shot of the game.  

The second quarter ended 36 vs 17 to IC, and at the interval the crowd were treated to a shooting contest by the two team mascots Victoria (Medics) and Albert (IC), and an uplifting performance by the London Lionesses Cheerleading team.

With the start of the third quarter the name of the game for the medics seemed to be to prevent their score line dipping under half that of IC’s. The Medics #13 forward Ranjodh Sanghera rose to the challenge, netting his own long-range 3-pointer. And it was Ran who led something of a fightback for his team in the third quarter, driving inside the IC team, forcing fouls and duly converting the free throws. That brought the Medics almost to within 20 points of IC at the end of the quarter at 52 vs 30.

Ranjodh Sanghera (left) stages a fightback

But it was only truly going one way and IC once again found their ruthless rhythm from the first quarter, finishing the game at 62 vs 36.

Congratulating the winning IC team, Neil Mosley (Head of Sport Imperial), said: "It was a real thrill for players from both teams to get play at such a top class venue and hopefully it's just the start of bigger things to come with this partnership and basketball in general at Imperial."

Receiving the winning trophy from former Pro-Rector Professor Rees Rawlings, IC Team Captain Wouter Thijssen said: “It was simply amazing. The atmosphere, the arena, the crowd; it all made for an unforgettable experience.

“We came out aggressive, looking to push the ball and get easy baskets inside. Credit the Medics for running a strong zone defence against us.”

The Most Valuable Player (MVP) award for the game though, went to Ranjodh Sanghera, who was credited with his never-say-die attitude in the face of relentless pressure from IC.

“The team was determined to play hard and feel proud of their performance, knowing we had left everything on the court. It was amazing, an experience of a lifetime,” he said.