Ballan Brumbies Basketball

Playing for pride in the final regular season round of the basketball season, Ballan Brumbies under 19 Boys D faced a tough assignment against Excies Acmy who sat 3rd on the table coming into the match, with top spot still a possibility.

The side were without the high-scoring Will Lewis who was ill, and versatile wing James Burton, who had been promoted to the Brumbies top side to cover for injury absences.

The heavily favoured Excies opened the scoring through Anton Meerbach and powerful centre Jack Song, though Ballan quickly responded from an Albie Eskdale putback and a layup from Rhys Mitchell after some neat footwork on the drive.

Perhaps concerned by Eskdale’s sheer strength, Excies lynchpin Song was shooting from the midrange, though his radar was far from calibrated.

That allowed Ballan to get out and run, Barney Batiste in particular benefitting.

Angus Holloway got on a roll for Excies, scoring on three consecutive possessions as Ballan started to flag.

Enter James Prosser, who came off the bench to provide a spark, his usual defensive brilliance igniting the Brumbies run as he scored on a coast-to-coast drive before feeding Tom Connally for a clever layup in traffic.

With the match tied at 18 apiece at the break, the question was when, or even if, Excies would put the foot to the floor, as Ballan had played to their limit in an entertaining opening 20 minutes.

To Ballan’s credit, they withstood a furious opening few minutes of the second half where Excies ramped up their defensive intensity, and Song, clearly under instruction, was told to attack Eskdale, Batiste and Prosser inside.

Song proved too mobile for Eskdale, drawing fouls and getting to the charity stripe, where he started to find his rhythm.

The Brumbies worked their way back into the contest through a reliable, calm head in Noah Cardona.

The wily finisher took advantage of Excies aggressive defence to get position under the basket for offensive rebounds and on one occasion, take a slick feed form Mitchell for an
‘and one’ basket.

Batiste also began to have his way inside and that opened up space for hulking centre Angus Tranter, playing up from under 16s to cover for Burton, to slip in for some timely buckets that drew big cheers from an excitable pro-Brumbies crowd.

With the game remaining tight – it was never more than a five point game in either direction – the Brumbies got big contributions from their leaders.

With Eskdale fouled out, Prosser drew the assignment on Song and despite giving up considerable size, used his speed and quick leap to disrupt Excies star as he looked to score.

At the other end, Batiste scored on the drive and Cardona hit a huge three pointer to put Ballan up by three.

Tom Faull responded for Excies, cutting the lead to one with just over 30 seconds to play. Batiste made one of two free throws and a Meerbach heave on the buzzer fell short under immense Brumbies pressure as Ballan finished a tough season on a high, taking down the
much fancied Excies side, 40-38.

The weekend’s results leave the Brumbies with 10 of their 20 eligible sides playing finals basketball, with six of those favoured to come through their semi-final matchups.

Under 16 Boys

Ballan F White 21 lost Phoenix Cardinals 23

Ballan F Blue 35 lost Sovereign Knights 36

Under 16 Girls

Ballan B 39 def Celtic Tigers 28

Under 19 Boys

Ballan F 30 lost Wildcats 59

Ballan D 40 def Excies Acmy 38

Ballan B 31 lost Wildcats 50

Under 19 Girls

Ballan 32 def Saints Panthers 20