COMING off a humbling loss last week, Ballan Brumbies Under 14 A Boys were looking for a bounce back performance against arch rivals Sovereign Knights.<\/p>\n
Ballan regained offensive fulcrum Emmett Tamanika from illness. The Brumbies started well with Jim Miller hitting a long jumper then Eli Rogers scoring on a layup. A Rogers three pointer saw Ballan skip away to a quick 7-0 advantage.<\/p>\n
Brumbies continued to fire away from outside with a corner trey to Rogers backed up by a Lachlan Prosser three that saw Ballan leading 13-3 just nine minutes into the game. A Knights timeout had the desired effect as they began to work their way back into the game on the back of star wing Kaelan Paterson, though his makes were answered by Khulan Morris free throws and a twisting lefty layup by Prosser.<\/p>\n
A late basket to Ben Allan for Knights saw them cut Ballan’s lead to just five points at the break, 18-13. Ballan certainly had the best of the half and but for a few misses inside from the understandably rusty Tamanika would have held a double-digit advantage.<\/p>\n
A positive sign for Ballan out of half time as Tamanika got on the board with a strong left-hand finish, though the towering Allan was starting to assert himself at both ends for Knights.<\/p>\n
On offence he was simply outhustling the Brumbies, getting to loose balls and converting put backs. Defensively he was blocking everything in sight.<\/p>\n
At one point, he blocked five shots in four possessions: Morris and Prosser on layup attempts, Tamanika, Rogers and Marley Solterbeck on pull up jump shots. A good thing for Knights, too. Solterbeck was doing a splendid job not letting Paterson get to the basket.<\/p>\n
When the diminutive Rory McKenzie scored for Knights, they found themselves with their first lead of the game, prompting a Ballan time out. Tamanika \u2013 starting to find his groove \u2013 and Allan exchanged baskets before tough bodywork from Miller and a great feed by Morris to Rogers gave the pair inside baskets that restored Ballan’s advantage.<\/p>\n
The Brumbies, though, let their guard down and a lighting fast seven-point run saw Knights retake the lead. Harry McArthur fed a cutting Tamanika to tie things up, though that young man Allan again gave Knights the lead.<\/p>\n
Morris again tied the game with a finish under pressure before Miller scored on a pair of bullocking drives to give Ballan a precious four-point lead in the final minute. Morris capitalised on a scrambled Knights defence to score the final bucket of the game, Ballan getting their first win of the campaign by a score of 38-32.<\/p>\n