Almanac Basketball: Yarra Wildbeasts make finals

After 3 hectic days of basketball we saw our valiant u16 boys miss finals by a meagre .2 of 1% with 4 wins from 5 games and a loss of 7 points so onwards and upwards for a group of quality young men

 

Our u18 boys made this mornings semis and went down by 3 points and we assumed their day was over – but some questions were raised about the age of a competitor, and I can attest to the Beasts leadership in this regard with full documentation for every participant in the tournament – unfortunately not every club complied and the strength and conviction of the organising committee was tested but saw the offending team disqualified even though the game had begun with the offending team on the floor. Communication problems from the committee room to court officials saw the game commence before having to be postponed while the committee formulated their decision and disqualified the team elevating the Beasts to the final.

 

The tournament had suffered from similar problems in previous years and no chances were taken today – so after a problematic day our 18s went into the final and came back from a 10 point deficit to lead with 2 minutes to play but we were overrun and lost by 3 points in the dying seconds of the game.

 

That took us to our seniors as reigning champions and we suffered a similar loss despite some huge plays and steals against a taller side who dominated the boards and mid range shots before our guys stepped up with some gritty and exciting play.

 

Now you might wonder what significance or size this tournament has on the basketball landscape – well I’m a ball tragic due to two kids playing rep, domestic, coaching etc for the past 12 years so I’m accustomed to tournaments on a national level / but never before have I seen 1,000 crammed into a stadium watching finals with hip hop , gangsta rap blaring from speakers with the crowd regularly dancing to the beat with style and uniformity – I’ll never look at the Wave again and see anything in it.

 

So our seniors failed the day by a similarly meagre 3 points but Sth Sudanese basketball grew up today and I’m a convert to the cause / keep kids off the street with this program.

 

The champs host so it appears we’re off to Brisbane next year which means we’re going to need more sponsorship and support to see us in a position to take away 50 or more kids next year.

 

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A Fitzroy resident keen on local content sports and the offbeat. Community first, after the good family of course.

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