This week's round up of basketball for the Ararat Basketball Association sees us heading into finals, with the first semi finals played on Monday and Wednesday nights. This round of the competition is sudden death play off and sees the winning teams head straight to next week's grand final. We were not disappointed, with standards being elevated to produce some very close matches in the lead up to the final.
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Under 12s Kings ran out winners over Bucks with shooter Zak Whitford heading up the scoring for Bucks with 6 points and Ruby Thomas 2 points. A game high of 24 for Nate Dadswell (Kings) shot with consistency but as a team, all players contributed to the final total running out winners 36 to Bucks 10 points.
Court 2 was a different ball game completely between Wizards and Suns with only one shot separating the two team at the final buzzer. Ollie Reynolds, Nevani Woods and Billie Walker combined well to lead Wizards to a 24-21 point win over the Suns, Archer Sparks and Mia Gardiner with 16 and 5 points respectively.
Under 14s Grizzles 40 - 76ers 36. Forty minutes' intensity kept this game within four points of going to either team with the difference in the end being a total team contribution on the score sheet from Grizzlies backed up with smart defensive play. Caleb Summers continued his dominance on the boards with 20 points and Reggie Jenkins nine points. 76ers Ryder Dadswell and Blake Parry just couldn't keep it up to the Grizzlies who have now earned themselves a place in next weeks final against Pelicans.
Pelicans 54 - Nets 44. Another well contested match over the 40 minutes had Pelicans motoring past Nets with the strong scoring combination of Patrick Toner, Sam Preston and Jed Rhodes combined with the defensive efforts of Dane Cardinals, Jacob Carthew and Marcus Day. It will be a matter of who plays best on the day as both teams could both come in as favourites following the end of seasons results according to the ladder.
Under 16s In another close match we saw third placed Piston pip Thunder in the last three minutes of the match to secure them a place in next week's grand final against Lakers who demolished Nuggets with a depleted side of 4 players 73-32. Thunders Will Cairns and Xavier McLoughlan combined to shoot the team total between them with Luke Monaghan solid in defensive rebounds even against Pistons tall timber and main scorer Alec Carthew ( 28 Points). Miko Hermasilla and Kaiden Cooper were hard to stop with eight and six points respectively. In game two, Lakers Aaron Chaplin was accurate for all areas of the court finishing the game on 27 points with Nuggets Bradley Carter (21 points) and Cohen King (8 points) fighting hard to keep pushing to the final buzzer but unfortunately for them their season is over and its Thunder Versus Lakers on Monday night.
Under 18s Aztec 34 - Clippers 28. Aztecs, having only one loss for the season, was definitely the favourite on paper to Clippers, with only two wins for the whole season, but they had the game swinging by only two points in the first half. Logan Mckinnis missed a number of chances over the course of the game but still managed 13 points along with Riley Walker (6 points), Sam Cairns (4 Points),Kobe Davis and Kobe Smith (3 and 2 points). Aztecs Jezza Woods and Chandler Culph didn't let too much slip by scoring 16 and 13 points to finally push the balance out to six points by the final buzzer securing them a place against Mohawks in Monday's grand final
Mohawks 36 - Rockets 24 Will Lawrie's time with the CBL outfit has solidified his consistent performance week after week from the floor with 17 points to his name. It was only Rockets' Alex Van Opstal with 16 points who managed to push Lawrie during the game. Aidan Newson (9) and Jude Stephens (8) certainly held their own and should lead to a hotly contested grand final come Monday night
Girls What should have been an easy game for Jazz finishing first on the ladder by clear 10 game margin over fourth placed Spurs, started far from that. Spurs Ashlyn Jones headed up the scoring with an accurate eight points, Skyla Pett (3 points) and Bella Cairns and Annabelle Price both with two a piece. There was some solid defensive from all five players to keep Jazz at bay ahead at the half time break. Four minutes into the second half the lack of any bench players took its toll with tired legs and they were over taken by some accurate shooting from Cara Jones (7 points) Summer Merrick and Georgie Cara (6 points). Defensively Sabaya Woods and Ella Grey applied the pressure to see too many turn overs and eventually ran out winners 25 - 15.
Court 2 Knicks 29 - Magic 24 This was always going to be a close match with second placed Knicks and third placed Magic sitting on the same number of wins and losses for the season. Knicks combined well with all plays contributing to the final tally but the difference being the accuracy of Kiara Davis finishing on 17 points. The Knicks just managed to hold their lead against a great defensive team in Sophie Fleming, Holly McAdie, Aleisha Roberts, Paige Burger, Jasmine Day and Jaime Lee Burton, running out five point winners and will meet Jazz in the grand final on Wednesday next week .
Seniors: The Crooks 61: Ben Robertson 23 points, Bradly Holcombe (13), Isiah Palamo (11) defeated Yellow 42 : Ray Apita (20), Earle Pestijo(10). The Heat 53: Aiden Marr (27) Connor Sheffield (17) defeated Necropolis Wolves 22: Darren Lester(10) , Matt Jerram(8). Bulls 66: Michael Harrick (16) Jezza Woods (16) defeated Misfits 44 Josh Feighart (17) Xavier McLoughlan (14). Honey Badgers 58 Jason Cameron(16), Harrison Cronin (13) defeated Purple Cobra 45 Blake Thomas (12), Jacob Bates (10)
NEXT SEASON
Good luck to all teams competing in next weeks finals and don't forget registrations are now open for the summer season competition which closes on Friday 24 January with absolutely no late entries to be accepted so get in and register to play today.
Go to www.araratbasketball.com and follow the prompts to register online.
Again, we are looking to hold a girls competition similar to the current competition with teams moved around to provide opportunity to learn and progress with different team mates with a view to ensuring a level playing field across teams as in the mixed competition.
The only competition that are able to enter as a team is in the senior level competition and this is followed through with the Futsal competition also.