By Michael Maskell
PLAYERS took to the courts for Round 6 of Kyabram Youth Club’s Summer Basketball program for kids on Monday night.
Up to 50 percent of participants were absent, many choosing to support a fundraising effort for flood impacted students in Rochester.
However, organisers of the basketball competition have become used to disruptions in recent times, and made sure those who attended got their fix of basketball.
Reports:
Gators surprised Raptors in the top Years 6-8 division with a come-from-behind 3-point victory in overtime. They did it without the services of their best player Cyhril Cunanan who volunteered to step into help the undermanned Wildcats team.
For the second week running, victory was snatched from Raptors in the dying minutes of the game. With forwards Ben Chapman (12 points) and Brody Thompson (14) again dominant, Raptors were ahead of Gators 32-29 when the full-time siren sounded. Both teams eagerly took up the offer of extra time on the court.
Small man Xavier Dodos was particularly dynamic as he picked holes in Raptors’ defence, set up scoring opportunities for team mates and dived to the hoop.
Raptors tall Hayden Parsons (12 points), in probably his best game of the season, kept his cool and battled strongly on the boards against his taller opponents.
He also created many opportunities for his smaller players, including for McInnes who top scored with 19 points. Gators won 39-36.
On the other court, it was a battle of talented tyros Cyhril Cullinan (Wildcats) and Jimmy Hargreaves (Hornets).
Cyhril – with 20 points – scored one one more point than Jimmy, but Jimmy got the satisfaction of the team victory.
Tim Mawley (6) and Teague Miller (4) also contributed to Hornets 31-28 win.
For the vanquished, Kade Normington found himself in scoring range often and ended the game with 6 points. Byron Parker also registered a goal, and defended well for his team.
Earlier, in the girls Prep-3 division, Indie Kent scored all 16 Gators points to lead her team to victory over Hornets who were best served by Maddi Oldfield (4) and Prep student Quinn Smith (2).
Indie stepped up to the Years 4-7 division and scored another 24 points to lead Hornets to victory over Gators, 48-32. Marli Kent also flushed 22 points, Lily Murtagh had 14 and Stephanie Locke 6 points.
For Gators, Layla Oldfield scored 20 points, Lydia DePasquale 6 and Isla Smith 6.
The match of the evening was in the Prep/1 division which was most impacted by absenteeism.
Huxley Cottrell and Riley Freeman for Raptors and Nate Carmody and Mason Davis, for Hornets had the ball flying from end to end on the 20-metre court. The end result? A fitting draw.
On Sunday in the adults social games, an NBL 1 hopeful from Adelaide joined the 30 men and women ages 14 to 50 who made up the four teams who scored a total 310 points on the two courts at Kyabram Sports and Entertainment Centre.
Visit www.kyabramyouthclub.com for information on how to join Kyabram Youth Club’s basketball offerings.
