Great success for first tournament

Basketball THIS past weekend saw the under 10s boys compete in the Southern Peninsula Tournament. To say they were excited was an understatement, with some nerves thrown in as well. Even though it pained Lennox Darby, being sidelined due to an injury, he supported and encouraged the team like he was out on the court with them. Our first game, we headed to Dromana College to take on Leongatha. Coach, Paul Harcus, had the boys fired up with self-belief they could win this game. Leongatha drew first blood and got on the board. It didn’t take long for the Eagles to reciprocate with Oscar McCallion putting the ball through the net. Half time and we were down by two; the grit and determination of William Sonnberg and James Vasey helped likes of Harry Harcus top score. The defense of Aiden Day and Carter Bradford take the Eagles up by one point with seconds to go, Leongatha head towards their end and a foul is drawn just on the buzzer. They headed to the line for two shots and they both hit, they take it out by one. The final result was 14 to 15. In their next game against Southern Peninsula Future Sharks Yellow the Eagles scored straight away; they are up and about shaking off the previous loss. The pace and accuracy of Raph Picone sees the boys up 14 to 1. In the second half, the opposition seem to find their groove and start hitting the net, but it doesn’t stop our boys, notably Harrison Harcus finishing the game with 11. Eagles finished with a convincing win 21 to 11. After a break for lunch, the Frankston High School saw the Eagles take on Southern Peninsula Future Sharks Blue. Sharks Blue come out all guns blazing with defense just as good as ours, so we knew we had to dig deep to get over the line for our final group stage game. Half time we are 8-6, but with the hopes of finishing on top gave the boys that extra bit in the tank. They all gave 110 per cent; you could see teams’ supporters checking the clock and how long is left given we were up by two with under two minutes to go. The siren sounded and the elation the boys had warms your heart. Top scoring by Raph Picone finishing the game with eight, saw the Eagles 14-12 at the final siren. In the finals draw, the Eagles were to play Foster, who had a great tournament in their group stage as well. Knowing it would be a challenge for the boys, they stepped onto the court full of confidence, as they had made it to the semi finals in this teams’ first tournament together. In the end it wasn’t meant to be, but the boys learnt so much from this and knowing that they want more tournaments like this for their age group. Thank you to Paul Harcus for taking on the coaching position, without you the boys wouldn’t have been able to experience this tournament. Special thank you to the parents and siblings of players for investing in a weekend of being taxis and pack horses for a game the kids are loving.

Great success for first tournament

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