By JARROD POTTER
FIGHTING tooth and nail throughout the arduous grading phase, a pair of Casey Cavaliers’ junior basketball teams has earned the right to play in the top tier this season.
After a one-year gap without any teams making it into Victorian Championship ranks, the Cavaliers doubled their success this season with Casey’s under-14 boys – coached by Casey senior men’s assistant coach Simon Phillips – defeating Mornington 45-34 to push into the best junior division. While the under-12 (1) boys earned their place on the back of a 47-42 win over Diamond Valley.
Under-12s coach Mitch Taylor – who also plays for the senior men’s Cavaliers – was proud to see his charges make the step up to the best ranks.
“I’m super proud of the boys making VC (Victorian Championship) as it’s such a massive effort and a big step in the right direction for our under-12 program,” Taylor said.
“We had a few close calls throughout grading but the fact that at 10 years of age the boys have the composure to come back and win after being down by five with one minute to go against the Melbourne Tigers – which turned out to be a crucial win and then they did it again in our VC qualifying game is a credit to them and their never say die attitude.”
Taylor remembers how playing in that level during juniors improved his basketball and hopes his charges relish the opportunity to shine on the big stage themselves.
“I played at the VC level for Casey in under 16s and under 18s which helped me enormously with my knowledge of the game and playing experience,” Taylor said.
“In the under-16s season my team only won one game (which included an 88 point loss to Dante Exum’s Keilor side), but having that season up against the best players in Victoria and some of the best in Australia for my age, allowed myself and my team to see the level of skill and intensity you have to play at every week to be at their level.
“So with my under 12s making VC this is not only going to improve them this season as they play at this elite level but without them even realising, it will be helping them for many seasons to come.”
Narrowly missing out on three teams in the top grade, the Cavaliers under-18 side fell at the last VC hurdle in a gutsy 71-77 defeat against Frankston.
There remains one more Cavaliers squad in the hunt for a VC place as the under-20 girls take to the court on Friday night for their shot in the top flight after defeating Western Port on Friday night 39-26.
Competing in the Metro 1 competition this season will be 18.1 boys, 12.2 boys and 12.1 girls while the 16.1 and 14.1 girls are in the hunt to qualify for Metro 1 with matches scheduled this week.
In other Cavaliers news, the Casey senior men took to the court on Thursday evening and put up a manful battle against the higher ranked State Championship Men’s team Waverley. The Cavaliers were narrowly bested in overtime by two points.
