BMBA UNDER 14 BOYS STORM INTO GRAND FINAL
Our Under 14 Boys have caused the upset of the season to storm into their Dandenong Basketball Association Grand Final. The boys have now won four straight matches to scrap into the finals, and then cause this upset that sets them up for a Grand Final showing this Saturday.
Five rounds ago, in a tight competition, our boys sat at the bottom of the ladder but pulled off three straight wins to make finals. To make this effort even more meritorious, the boys had to win their last game of the regular season by 20 points to displace the fourth team for a finals spot. The boys did that and made the finals by the meagre margin of .01%. Making the finals was one thing, but confronting the top team on the ladder in the semi-finals, who had beaten us by close to twenty points in our previous two encounters, was something else.
Despite those losses, we went into the Semi-Final confident in our ability to win the game. In our two losses, we didn’t play anywhere near our best, and in our most recent loss, we were competitive for 35 minutes of the match before being run over in the last 5. We had also built considerable confidence in the month before this match with three strong wins. All we needed was a strong start, and that’s exactly what we had. The boys put in some great defensive efforts and a different team defence really threw a spanner in Rowville’s game and jumpred out to a 7-1 lead after 12 minutes which could have been much more had we hit some inside shots that we missed.
This left the door open for Rowville to come back, and come back they did going on a 12-3 run to lead 13-10 at half time. Despite losing the lead, our boys were confident from the first half that they could overcome Rowville in the second half, which we started strongly, getting out to 4 point lead with 12 minutes to go on a 12-4 run of our own. The game was proving to be one of momentum swings back and forth, and our boys needed to hold their nerve, as once again we lost the lead to find ourselves trailing 24-21 with less than ten minutes to go. The boys then executed one of their special plays they had been working on for a month for Lucas Edmonds to hit a big 3 pointer to tie the game, and our boys didn’t look back.
All game, the boys had followed the coache’s instructtions to attack at every opportunity with their ball-handling skills, and this led to Rowville getting onto foul trouble. This meant our boys were able to make regular trips to the foul line, where the boys shot exceddingly well and where ultimately Bill Pham “iced ” the game with two bottom of the net free throws to give the team a 3 point lead. The boys still had to hold out a desperate Rowville for the last 30 seconds, which we did with aplomb, and all of a sudden the boys realised they were in their first Grand Final at Dandenong. Bill Pham enjoyed what was probably his best game for the BMBA, with great shooting, ball-handling and passing skills in play and on the defensive end he helped to shut down their guards.
Zach Chester continued his strong form for the season with 11 points, multiple rebounds and was a key contributor in our press breaker offence. Lucas Edmonds hit two big threes that changed the momentum of the game on both occasions.
All of the boys contributed to this win with great defence and disciplined offence and calm nerves at the foul line. They thoroughly deserved this win and can look forward to a strong showing in the Grand Final. The boys would love to have our BMBA family out in force this Saturday to support them as they strive for their first-ever championship at Dandenong. If you have free time, why not consider coming along? The details of the game are below.
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