By JARROD POTTER
FINISHING their season on a high note, Casey Cavaliers boys under-14 team proved one of the best junior basketball teams in Australia.
The Cavaliers fought their way up to fifth place in the Basketball Australia under-14 club championships which were held last week in Perth.
Battling teams from across the length and breadth of the country – Cairns Marlins, Tamworth Thunderbolts, Northern Tasmania, Melbourne Tigers, Bendigo Braves, Bulleen Boomers and Central Districts – the Casey contingent excelled to book its spot in the five-versus-six playoff on the final match-day in Western Australia.
The boys rallied to take the 50-40 win over South Australia’s Central Districts in its final match together for 2015.
“We did well – ended up fifth in Australia out of 24 teams competing,” Casey coach Simon Phillips said.
“We achieved the goals that we set for ourselves – we wanted a top six finish and that gives us a lot of feedback.
“We only lost three games – and those were to the sides that finished second, third and fourth – so that’s a true reflection of where we should’ve finished.”
While his Cavaliers weren’t as tall as the mightiest sides across the country, their fighting spirit and scintillating speed impressed Phillips the most as they burnt off all-comers.
“Our middle range height players really stepped up in the championship and other teams found it hard to match up on us,” Phillips said.
“Especially when they put all their bigs on court and we were too fast for them.”
“The standout was when we got within 13 points of the VC champions Melbourne – we really came out and played that game – good physical game and that was the one I was really proud of.”
The coaching group believed Makaio Haywood was the best player across the tournament and was very closely followed by Gericho Landicho.
The team will go its separate ways now with most players going up to under-16s next season but Phillips hoped the side inspired the next generation of Cavaliers to work hard off the court to drive the successes on it.
“They really have to work on their game outside of official trainings to achieve what these boys did,” Phillips said.
“At least four or five of them were doing outside individual training with other coaches and three or four were going to schools that focus on basketball.
“This upcoming year will be a learning curve for them as now they’re the young boys going up into the older age groups and will need to take the experience they used in the nationals to take them up again.”
