Date: Wed, June 9, 2010

U/18 Boys – Ballarat 66 defeated Melbourne 25

The Ballarat Miners U/18 Boy’s have made a statement in Friday night’s VJBL competition. The Miners took on a well drilled Melbourne Tigers team at the Minerdome on Friday night and went away with a dominant 41 point win.

The message was sent to all the sides in the VJBL competition that the Miners are here to play, after some controversial comments were made on the Basketball Australia website last week.

Last time the two teams met Melbourne got the upper hand with a close 3 point win. Ballarat, however, were keen to make amends and came out firing on Friday night.

Josh Grover, Anthony Fisher, Ash Constable, Jarrod Fryar and Tom Downie all played huge roles in Ballarat win with their intensity and hard work at both ends of the court.

The Miners opened up a small lead early in the first half and never looked like losing it as the flowed into their offense and dominated on defence.

While Melbourne tried to throw Ballarat off their game with some physical defence, the Miners kept working and before long had stretched the lead out to double figures.

Coach DJ Sutton said “it was a really pleasing four quarters of basketball from all 10 players.”

The side will now be without Fryar, Constable and Downie as they make their journey to the U/17 World Championships in Germany.

Final Score Ballarat 66 defeating Melbourne 25
Downie 15, Fryar 11, Sullivan 8

U/16 Girls – Melbourne 63 def Ballarat 42

Facing a tough opponent in the Melbourne Tigers, Ballarat started the game in an uncharacteristically slow fashion. After missing several easy shots Melbourne broke away very early in the match to a double figure lead.

The lead extended beyond 15 points at the half time break as the Miners struggled to break through the Tigers defensive structure.

In the second half Ballarat found a new level and were able to lift their intensity to better suit the match. Emma White and Claire Constable found their range and piled on 21 of Ballarat 26 points for the half. However, this was not enough as Melbourne powered away to win by 21 points.

U/16 Boys – Eltham (3) 26 def Ballarat 24

Both teams started off slowly on the offensive end of the court leading to the scores being tied at 6 apiece at the 10 minute mark. Neither team was able to create a run and break away from the other. Eltham, however, took a slender 2 point lead into the half time break.

In the second half the Miners were able to create some positive offensive plays in the first 90 seconds. However, this did not last as Eltham hit back and brought the margin back within two points.

Scores remained locked for the remainder of the half until around about the 45 second mark. Miner Jaykeb Lench put his team in front by 3 points. Unfortunately, Eltham hit back again and regained the lead with only seconds to go.

As the clock ran down Ballarat watched the game slip away, eventually losing by 2 points.

Coach Darren Thomas said “after weeks of concentrating on quality ball movement and finishing our shots I would have thought we would be better in this area.”

U/18 Girls – Ballarat 44 drew with Waverly 44

The U/18 girls match up saw Ballarat taking on a very aggressive Waverly side at the Minerdome. The game started off in exactly that fashion as the visiting side tried to make a statement at both ends of the floor.

A shocked Ballarat team was forced to make some adjustments as they trailed by three points at the first break. The second quarter was all Ballarat as they came together as a team and got the job done. Some strong offensive sets saw Ballarat take a 5 point lead into the half time break.

The second half saw Waverly pin back the score line and put a stop to the Miners scoring. The visiting side kept the scores locked until the final buzzer despite the home side’s aggressive offense.

Coach Eric Hayes said “We had some brilliant patches of team play that will make us stronger in weeks to come”

In other VJBL results:

• U/14 Girls – Knox 54 def Ballarat 52
  
• U/14 Boys – Ballarat 44 def Mornington 36

Full Fixtures, Ladders and Results available here