NBL1 talents, rising stars stand out at Basketball Queensland SQJBC grand finals
Rising big men, Logan dynamic duos and a young star guard were among some of the standouts from the Basketball Queensland SQJBC grand finals. READ THE WRAP HERE
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Dominant big men, athletic highlights, shooters who caught fire – the Basketball Queensland SQJBC grand finals had a little bit of everything.
Basketball fans were treated to a special atmosphere at Hibiscus Sports Complex, the home of the South West Metro Pirates, for the finals for competitions from under-16s to under-21s on Saturday.
While under-16s teams looked to ramp up preparations for the upcoming State Championships with an SQJBC gold medal, many other athletes were playing their last games of junior basketball in the under-18 and under-21s competitions.
In the under-16s, the Logan Thunder (girls) and Northside Wizards (boys) completed an undefeated season with dominant victories in the grand finals.
Gold Coast took the double in the under-18s, winning both the boys and girls gold medals, with each team taking down the Southern Districts Spartans in tough battles.
And in the main event for the night it was the Logan Thunder, who took out the under-21s title with a hot shooting performance to beat the Sunshine Coast Phoenix.
See the standout performers and wrap below:
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U16 BOYS PL: NORTHSIDE WIZARDS DEF GC WAVES 118-59
In a daunting sign for other teams at the upcoming State Championships, the Northside Wizards took their game to another level to take down the Gold Coast Waves by 59 points.
Star guard Lebron Brooks led the scoring with 23 points, including four three-pointers, while big man Rocco Zikarsky showed why he is one of the most talked about young prospects in the state scoring 22, including several thunderous dunks which brought the crowd at Hibiscus Sports Complex to their feet.
The Wizards, who are looking to win back-to-back state titles next month, also had four other players score in double figures with Leeroy Watson (19), Rahid Chowdhury (12), Kailan Sales (10) and Julius Wardzinski (10).
Gold Coast fought hard despite the margin with Zai Millane leading the way with 12 points as well as Ziggy Fowler (11) and Marley Enders-Green (10).
U16 GIRLS PL: LOGAN THUNDER DEF GC WAVES 85-46
The physicality, pressure and size of the Logan Thunder was too much for the Gold Coast Waves in the under-16 girls Premier League grand final as the undefeated side won their 16th straight game in a 39-point grand final victory.
Despite only beating the Waves by single digits in both of their regular season match-ups, the Thunder came out firing, forcing the Gold Coast into early turnovers and turning the extra possessions into easy transition baskets to jump out to a double-digit lead in the first five minutes.
Logan’s three starting guards in Prasayus Notoa, Vahayliah Seumanutafa and Atawhai Pepene-Davis led their team from the tip-off with their pressure defence and ability to find their way to the basket and also knock down shots from the perimeter.
In the second half, the Thunder’s guard trio continued to dominate but their bigs in Georgia Betham and Tianna Apelu were also dominant, showing why Logan will be so tough to beat at the state championships.
Gold Coast tried to make a push several times throughout the game with guard Ava Usher trying to inspire her team as well as Kiama Tahere, who found form from beyond the three-point line, connecting on three three-pointers but the Thunder ran away with the victory.
Seumanutafa led the scoring with 21 points while Notoa had 15 and Pepene-Davis recorded 13 points.
Betham and Apelu also combined for 21 points between them.
U18 GIRLS PL: GC WAVES DEF SD SPARTANS 64-57
The dominance continues!
Gold Coast have won another gold medal, fighting off an impressive effort from the Southern Districts Spartans to claim their second championship this year.
The victory completes a dominant junior career for the Waves in this age group after winning every southeast Queensland competition and state championship from under-12 to under-18s.
But they did it the hard way as the Spartans them pushed them to the brink several times throughout the grand final but Gold Coast’s experience and composure in big moments proved too much in the end.
Southern Districts forced Waves coach Pero Cameron to call an early time-out after jumping out to an early lead through their physicality and pressure on the defensive end.
But Gold Coast answered through Australian program guard Lily Rotunno and Jess Petrie to regain the lead.
Hayley McDowell-White made some big plays on the offensive and defensive end to keep her side in the game and was joined by Lulu Twidale and Jose Josiah in the second half, connecting on several threes to give the Waves a scare.
But Gold Coast executed better on both ends down the stretch to record a seven-point victory.
Rotunno had 17 for the Waves while Petrie and Katelyn Donovan had 13 each.
McDowell-White and Twidale both had 16 points for the Spartans while Josiah scored 13.
U18 BOYS PL: GC WAVES DEF SD SPARTANS 101-93
It was the Jalen Blanchard and Elijah Kamu show as the pair inspired the Gold Coast Waves to a hardfought eight-point victory over the Southern Districts Spartans in the grand final.
The pair combined for 65 points to overcome impressive performances from Spartans duo Mason Amos and Will Mahoney, who combined for 60 points themselves.
The crowd at the Hibiscus Sports Complex was treated to an old school battle of the big men as Kamu and Amos went head-to-head, making big play after big play to match each other.
Kamu used his brute strength and skill to dominate from the post while Amos’ ability to make plays from the perimeter with five three-pointers also made the youngster impossible to stop for the Waves.
But the Spartans downfall was their inability to locate Blanchard at the three-point line as the sharpshooter hardly had to take a dribble on his way to 34 points, which included nine three-pointers.
And despite Mahoney joining the party, especially in the second half, the combination of Blanchard and Kamu (31 points) helped the Waves bounce back from a loss in the State Championships grand final in January and take a gold medal in the SQJBC competition.
U21 BOYS PL: LOGAN THUNDER DEF SC PHOENIX 87-78
In arguably the game of the night – it was all set up for an epic finish as the Sunshine Coast Phoenix had battled their way back from a 20-point deficit to trail 69-68 going into the fourth and final quarter.
The Logan Thunder were struggling after a hot start and someone needed to step up with the Phoenix holding all the momentum.
But then NBL1 young stars Boston Mazlin and Tane Kirisome answered the call.
The pair hit four consecutive three-pointers to start the fourth quarter and rip all the momentum away from the Sunshine Coast, who had no energy left to find their way back from another double-digit deficit.
Mazlin (33 points) and Kirisome (25 points) were simply dominant, scoring 58 of the team’s 87 points as the Thunder completed a double of the under-21s competition after the women won the gold medal back in December.
But it was Tyrone Fui who was the unsung hero for Logan with his energy and effort on the defensive end and on the rebounds helping his team nullify the Phoenix’s size advantage.
For the Sunshine Coast, Noah Benjamin (12 points) and Angus Low (14 points) helped keep their team afloat in the first half while Jye Byrne also chipped in but found himself in foul trouble.
However, their third-quarter run was led by big man Oscar Cluff (15 points) and Lewis Woosnam (10 points) who caused Logan’s defence all sorts of trouble.
But in the end it wasn’t enough as the Thunder finished with a nine-point victory.
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