The Eltham Dandenong Tournament is the largest junior basketball tournament conducted on the planet and we have two BMBA teams competing strongly and doing the Templar Warriors proud.
Our U18 and U12 boys lost a few players before the tournament and were scrambling to get enough numbers. After discussions with tournament organisers fill-in players were recruited from a number of other clubs to give both teams enough to participate and participate they have, very strongly!
Under 12 Boys.
Our Under 12 boys recruited three fill-in players who have been of great assistance and we would like to formally thank Ethan Xie, Archer Boeck, Lachie Paterson and their families for helping out the boys for this tournament weekend.
The boys have played three games at the time of this post and have had one close loss, one strong win and a tough loss against a very good opponent. The boys have competed hard in all their games and steadily improved with each game. With an extremely young side that includes four bottom age players, our boys have more than help their own.
Lachy Speers has been dominant at the point guard position, Bill Pham has enjoyed some great minutes, Zach Chester has performed admirable in positions that are foreign to him, while Jordan Tiet has brought heap of energy and enthusiasm to his games. From the fill-in players Lachie and Ethan have improved each game, while Archers has been very strong competing hard at both the offensive and defensives ends. The boys results are below.
Game One: 25-30 loss Vs Warrandyte(3) – Lachy Speers 10 pts, Archer Boeck 7 pts, Bill Pham 6 Points
Game Two: 19-55 loss Vs Eltham – Archer Boeck 8 pts, Lachy Speers 4 pts.
Game Three: 30-24 WIN Vs Hawthorn Magic – Archer Boeck 20 pts, Zach Chester 9 pts, Lachy Speers 4 points.
The boys now need only the one win today to qualify for finals tomorrow, which would be very exciting for our first Under 12 team entered into tournament competition. Good Luck Boys
Under 18 Boys.
Our Under 18 boys like our Under 12 boys needed fill-in players to be able to take the court and we would like to formally thank Marko Kanorna, Jonty Litwinow and Liam McNamara and their families for helping out with our Under 18 boys this weekend.
The Under 18 boys have played four games across two days at the time of writing and have performed admirably winning three of those four games. In two of those games that weren’t just wins but thumping wins.
Game One: 42-34 WIN Vs Altona – Elijah Horan 13 pts, Marko Harna 10 pts, Will Thompson 7 Pts.
Game Two: 81-26 WIN Vs Eltham U16 – Will Thompson 21 points, Marko Karna 15 points, Liam McNamara 10 pts, Finn Whitson 9 pts, Jonah Fifita 9 pts, Marko Karna 5 pts.
Game Three: 74-25 WIN Vs Eltham Bollenhagen – Finn Whitson 16 pts, Marko Karna 15 pts, Liam McNamara 12 pts, Elijah Horan 12 pts, Will Thompson 10 pts
Game Four: 32-49 Loss Vs Warrandyte – Finn Whitson 13 pts, Jonah Fifita 7 pts, Liam McNamara 6 pts.
With just one more game the boys have pretty much sewn up a semi-final spot this Sunday. A win in their last game should see them consolidate a top two finish and a real shot at our first ever tournament final. A very exciting prospect.
