Justin Schwarze
13 August
Hume City has punched their ticket to a finals date with league leaders Keysborough after rolling McKinnon 111-72 at home in the Championship Men qualifying final. The Broncos came to play and set the tone early, stunning the Cougars with a 34-10 opening quarter.
Efficient offence and timely passing opened scoring avenues for Hume City, with baskets coming from cutters and open shooters. The Broncos shot 80 percent from two-point range in the first quarter to go along with over 45 percent from beyond the arc, freezing McKinnon’s zone.
The visitors struggled to get the ball rolling, turning the ball over seven times in the first and failed to generate reliable offence, allowing Hume City to get out and run. The hosts scored 10 points from turnovers in the quarter, a trend that has been a vital key to the Broncos’ recipe for success in 2025.
Both teams cam into this game as the second and third best offensive squads in the competition, despite having contrasting game styles. Hume City plays is the league’s fastest rate with a pace rating of 87.7, while McKinnon is the lowest mark in that category with 81.8.
The Cougars narrowly trimmed the margin in the second thanks to a big offensive quarter from Shaquille Maharaj, yet still trailed by 20 at the main break, 54-34. However, any hope of a McKinnon comeback attempt was dashed when the three-headed monster of Kavione Green, Zach McKenzie and Ricardo Time took over in the third. McKenzie was a sniper from deep, while Time operated beautifully from the mid range with clever changes of pace to get into his jumper. Green was forceful driving towards the rim as he has been all season, causing headaches for defenders with his tenacity to get to the basket and plethora of offensive moves. The hosts won the term 35-20 and held a 89-54 buffer at the conclusion of the third. From there, Hume City saw out the 111-72 dominant triumph at home to advance one step closer to glory.
“It was definitely one of our better defensive efforts,” Hume City head coach Matt Foster said. “We scouted and knew their personnel really well and the guys did a really good job of sticking to the scout.”
McKinnon shot 36 percent from the floor and turned the ball over 18 times to 14 assists. The Cougars walked away scoring a total of 72, well below their season average of 94.9.
“We play quite a high pace and they like to slow down and execute, so we were hoping if we could get the pace up it might help, and turned out it did,” Foster said. “Playing at high pace is one of our strengths, moving the ball and taking advantage of our athletic abilities. We try to do that every game.”
The first quarter was the highlight for Foster with his outfit inflicting damage early and never looking back.
“Our guys were all locked in and ready,” he said. “Coming out like that was great, you could tell in the warm up the guys were ready and that was a really big first quarter. If we’re scoring that many, it puts us in a decent position to win. We just wanted to be in attack mode and play a real physical game.”
Green finished the night with 37 points on 11/18 shooting with 12 boards and 4 steals. McKenzie knocked down 10/17 shots on his way to 30 points and Time filled the stat sheet with 13 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals.
Hume City will face Keysborough at 7pm at Rowville Secondary College this week for a spot in the Championship Men Grand Final.
For more information about BigV finals click below.
