Ballan Brumbies Basketball

Ballan Brumbies head into the weekend’s Grand Final making a habit of 50/50 splits: of 20 eligible sides, 10 made the semi-finals and of those five will represent the club in Grand Finals.

How the club intend to win two and a half grand finals remains to be seen!

Heavily favoured, the Brumbies Under 12 G Boys came into their match with Saints Cavaliers in a confident mood, though with everything to lose, which perhaps explains the boys’ slow start.

Powerful forward James Parr got the scoring underway for Ballan with a driving layup, quickly
answered by Jason Liu for Saints. The Brumbies, though, were unable to really hit their stride as Saints desperate defence kept them in check.

Hugh Blair drove through traffic for a tough finish and a Matt Tingate chance was rebounded and put away by Ranav Mani, but Ballan were struggling to stamp their authority on the contest.

A long Hallam Reid jump shot under immense pressure went down but it was typical of the difficult chances Saints were forcing the Brumbies to take.

Brumbies coach Max Farrell urged her players to focus on defence, perhaps hoping some turnovers might generate some easier looks and she was rewarded by some excellent point of attack defence from Oscar Phillips and especially Jaxon Mulgrew, who played his best game for the club.

Their pressure saw Elliot Fest and leading scorer Jay Fenwick get away on the break as the Brumbies finally started to find a groove, eventually taking a 17-10 lead into half time.

The second half told a different tale. The Brumbies, as was expected, dominated from start to finish, allowing Saints only four points for the remainder of the match. Every player ramped up their pressure.

Mulgrew and Harry Breguet were menaces at the point of attack and when Saints did find their way to the basket, Mani, Fenwick, Parr, and Blair were all patrolling the paint.

Fest and Reid were picking up chances on the break and Fenwick, well held in the first half, broke free to own the second as he scored 11 of his game high 15 points after the break.

Ballan ended up running out 35-14 winners, a margin that didn’t reflect how close the game was for the first 15 minutes.

They’ll take on Wildcats in the Grand Final, the two teams clearly the class of the division.

The Under 12 Boys will be joined by an Under 14 Girls side, the Under 19 Girls, and a pair of Under 14 Boys teams in the Grand Final.

Under 10 Boys

Ballan D 6 lost Sovereign Knights 30

Ballan C 11 lost Phoenix Knicks 24

Under 12 Boys

Ballan G 35 def Saints Cavaliers 14

Under 14 Boys

Ballan E 30 def Excies Acmy 19

Ballan B 40 def Saints Bucks 31

Under 14 Girls