Another sensational night of basketball finals was held at Auburn High School on Friday 27th October. All Divisions showcased the very best of our players and coaches, and all games attracted large crowds of supporters.
Results:
Victorian Championship Men – ROAR are once again the 2017 Victorian Champions, defeating BLAZE 31 to 25. After securing a handy 6 point lead at half time, Roar couldn’t break away any further, despite foul trouble sending two key Blaze players to the bench. Top Scorer for the game was Jake Nitas with 10 points, supported by Max McGuire and Frazer Dawber with 7 points each. Top scorer for Blaze was Matthew Iozzi with 6 points. We’re excited for the competition in Summer 2017 with a new look Roar team, following final games for Luke Nicholls, Zac Cornell, Corey Cornell and Dylan James. Thanks guys, it’s been apleasure to watch you all play together for so many years.
Victorian Championship Women – Also repeat winners and 2017 Victorian Champions are the WILD KATS, defeating AVENGERS 27 to 20. In a low scoring games for these two teams, Wild Kats came from a 2 point deficit at half time to turn the game around. Lead by Sam Williver and Laura Flynn scoring 13 points between them in the second half, the Avengers couldn’t match the offensive pressure. Top Scorers for Wild Kats were SamWilliver 9 points, Laura Flynn 8 points. For the Avengers, Naomi Krampel scored 7 points and Riki Fichtl scored 6 points. In presenting the two teams with their medals, the Referees made note of what a pleasure it had been to referee such a high standard of Women’s basketball, and also congratulated Sam and Riki for playing in two Grand Finals tonight – both having also played earlier in their mixed teams.
Division 2 – In our highest scoring game for the night, OUTLAWS 39 outscored the LEPPARDS 29 to win the Division 2 grand final. Also coming from a 2 point half time deficit, the Outlaws spread the ball around and had 6 players all making baskets in the second half. The Leppards were restricted to only 2 scorers and were facing foul trouble with key players. Top scorers for the Outlaws were Troy Gibbs and Jamie Smith with 10 points each. For the Leppards Makxim Ma scored 15 points, supported by Tom Fletcher with 8 points and Kevin Pang with 6 points.
Division 3 – In a very close game with multiple lead changes throughout the game, DRAGON SNAKES 31 defeated RAGE 27. The Dragon Snakes had trouble shutting down the scoring capability of Rage (with Sam Williver scoring 18 points and Marcel Vermulst scoring 9 points), but they managed to keep their own score ticking over with multiple scorers including Adam Horne with 16 points in his first season with this team, and Mark Knox with 8 points. It was only the last minutes of this game that saw Dragon Snakes pull away to a handy lead – so congratulations to all players on an outstanding Division 3 final.
Division 4 – ASTRONAUTS 14 defeated BOOMERANGS 10. With a low scoring first half (only 2 to 4) both teams came out keen to put the ball in the hole in the second half. David Frith dominated for the Astronauts scoring 10 points in the second half (for a total of 14 points). While Matthew Tran for the Boomerangs scored an impressive 8 points against the much bigger defensive players of the Astronauts. Was great to see the years of experience of the Astronauts players pitched against the youth, enthusiasm and fast legs of the young Boomerangs team. This was a sensational game to start the evening off with a very large group of supporters for both teams.
The Summer season commences on Friday 10th November. All games will be at Hawthorn stadium – free entry, free BBQ, Giveaways and prizes. We are celebrating our 30 years of Friday night basketball anniversary.
Games times – All division 4 games at 6.30pm, All division 3 games at 7.05pm, All division 2 games at 7.40pm, All Women’s Championship games at 8.15pm and All Men’s Championship games at 8.50pm