Round 7 is now wrapped up for our Championship Men, the halfway for our season is just around the corner. Wyndham and Keysborough continue their strong contention to be playing in August with the rest of teams on a level playing field. We are still yet to see Western Port secure a win after 7 rounds, falling by 20 on Sunday afternoon.
McKinnon (90) def. Hume City (80)
The Round tipped off with a 2023 Championship Grand Final rematch! Mckinnon, despite their roller coaster of a season thus far, they held on in the 4th to clench the Win. Hume City, unable to get themselves on a run in the 4th continued to struggle containing Anderson as he led all scorers with 28 points for the game. With multiples guys who can turn it on whenever they want, the Cougars starters have created a great culture and brand of basketball, hard for teams to contain. Both units with quite new lineups in the 2024 season, they’ve had to almost restructure the way they go about things, and it seems they’re hitting their strides.
Bellarine (92) def. Sunbury (91)
The Storm led for most of the first half, with the Jets coming out to play in the second, winning the 3rd quarter 22 to 16. Chipping away, the Storm cut the lead to under 5 points with under 4 minutes to play. Fast forwarding to the last minute where Nathan Marshall picked the pocket of Varley in the back court to tie the game with 30 odd seconds left. Varley was then fouled, putting him on the line where he made 1 clutch free-throw. Nathan Baker came up big with a 3pt to put the Jets up 1 with less than 10 seconds left.
Welcome Rohan Jarvie to the podium as his intensity and grit found his hand on the ball off a miss from Burn to clench the game with a tip in off their sideline out. A massive win the Storm taking out their 5th for the season. Yorke-Frazer was a standout on court with 28 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 stealers. Robertson with 19 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals and Varley led the way for the Storm with 21 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists and 4 steals.
Camberwell (85) def. Melbourne University (78)
Camberwell secured only their third win of the season against Melbourne University. Not only were the Dragons in front for the entire game, but it was Jackson Dean who had 7 offensive 7 defensive rebounds, a huge effort in the last few minutes to stay ahead and secure the win. The dragons now on a two-game winning streak could be the confidence they need to climb the ladder and show they are serious contenders after all. Elder led all scorers with 22 points with their young athlete Dean finishing with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Melbourne University without Liam Killey looked to have struggled even through their runs in the second half.
Keysborough (106) def. Shepparton (75)
Keysborough, playoff contenders took out the win by a huge 31 points against the visiting Shepparton Gators. Dylan Moore had a massive 29-point for the game proving to this league and his team that he can be impactful week in and week out. Newby again leading the Cougars finishing with 25, now averaging just under 20 for the season. Shoutout to AJ Williams who had 18 assists to absolutely dominate this matchup! Unfortunately for the Gators who were only in front for less than a minute the entire game, despite their scoring runs sitting between 4-9 for the game. Shepparton, now sitting in 8th turn to play the Dragons this week to hopefully get their fifth win.
Wyndham (102) def. Western Port (73)
A top vs bottom of the ladder clash, with another huge win for Wyndham by a cruising 29 points. Wyndham led for the entire game – still sitting on the ladder with 1 loss for the season. He fails to go unnoticed as Oskar Jones finished with 30 points and Ayilara with 12 rebounds (10 defensive). A massive game for Wyndham, as they continue to prove their strong contention to play deep through August. The Steelers must find a way in the weeks ahead to come together and get on the win column or this season will continue to get harder.
Shepparton (71) def by. McKinnon (81)
Mckinnon secured the win over the visiting Gators in their second games of the weekend. Mckinnon was essentially ahead the entire game, Shepparton finding themselves in the lead for the first 5 minutes in the first. Despite a close finish, Mckinnon held strong to stay in front during the second half of the game. Ironically the second game of the weekend they held on by exactly 10 points in close knit games. Top scorers were Wooten and Barry with 19 a piece, a massive 15 rebounds for Maharaj and 11 for Barry. Mckinnon’s strong side keeps them as a top contender for the season.
Sunbury (79) def by. Pakenham (83)
Another close loss for Sunbury who were defeated by Pakenham in their only game o f the weekend. It is massive how some fresh legs in this league can impact a game, regardless of the matchup. With a holding foul before the ball was inbounded, Pakenham’s new import Tiras Morton drilled the single free throw going up 2 with less than 20 seconds left. Pakenham again had the ball on the baseline with at the hands of Josh Dow, the running floater going to his left dropped putting the Warriors up 4. An unfortunate foot out of bounds by Sunbury, the Warriors held onto the win but just 4 points. Yorke-Fraser was big for the Jets finishing with 33 points shooting over 50% for the game. McNiff was influential off the bench for the Warriors with 15 of his own shooting 5 from 6 from the charity stripe.
Western Port (88) def by. Blackburn (108)
To wrap up our weekend, Blackburn defeated Western Port in another blowout loss for the Steelers. Our top scorers for the match were Legan and Martin, both with 27 points. Unfortunately, there was still no win for Western Port, but some great promises were shown with Permenter taking 11 rebounds and 5 assists, with Ingram scoring 23 for the game in his 29 minutes. Not able to hold on though, Blackburn led the way through the periods and got just their second win of the season. Now, will Round 8 be the round that Western Port secure their first win of the season?
