NBA prospect Roman Siulepa among GPS Basketball Players of the Week
Who made our GPS First V Basketball Players of the Week? Our list includes an NBA prospect who shone in a dramatic round which saw TSS defeat a big premiership challenger.
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BSHS’s 17-year-old NBA prospect Roman Siulepa put his side on his shoulders with a 54-point-showing in GPS basketball round 3 action - but it wasn’t enough to defeat premiership favourites The Southport School.
TSS won the game 114-91 against BSHS, while up on the range in Toowoomba, Brisbane Grammar School took Toowoomba Grammar School into overtime, 83-all, before the home side won 91-89 by the skin of their teeth.
Fearless guard Tawana Ngorima scored the go ahead bucket with a drive to the cup.
At Nudgee, the Gregory Terrace First V were on fire – and stayed on fire through to the final buzzer.
Phoenix Trego went off with his mesmerising corner-three shooting sucking the life out of Nudgee, while left-handed sharp shooter Correy Laffen heaped on more pain from both the mid range and behind the arc.
Paul Papacostas, Hunter Trego and Logan Siolo were deadly and despite an impressive game by Rylan Carlisle, Gregory Terrace cruised to victory.
And on Old Boys Day at Churchie, the home side remained undefeated with a 75-71 victory over a game BBC.
Although Phoenix Trego and Ben Tweedy were out of this world, the performance of the round indeed came from Year 11 student Siulepa.
We said this last week after Ben Tweedy dropped a 50-ball to beat Gregory Terrace: “Are we looking at the best player in the competition?”
It was as if Siulepa said “hold on.”
Against Tweedy’s TSS team, Siulepa was ruthless. He was full of confidence, swatting away shots, knocking down threes, fighting for offensive rebounds, throwing it down and using spin moves, crossovers and sheer strength to get to the rim.
He was at the peak of his powers, as was triple-double Tweedy who had a cool 35 points, 10 assists, and 10 rebounds in a win.
So who joined Siulepa and Tweedy, who is averaging a whopping 41 ppg, in our Players of the Week? See below.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Churchie 75 beat BBC 71
GAME IN 150 WORDS
Churchie jumped out of the blocks with a jittery start from BBC seeing them miss many long-range attempts early. Churchie raced to a 12 point first quarter lead. However, great defence and improving offensive opportunities turned the tide to see BBC outscore Churchie in the second and third quarters to bring the game back to a small deficit entering the fourth quarter. A titanic struggle ensued as both teams created great opportunities from their defence, yet BBC could not find that elusive tying or go-ahead bucket. Churchie steadied late in the quarter to run ahead by 13 points, a Kurt Siwek trailing three proving to be a dagger. Churchie seemed to have the game finished but in the last minute, BBC smothered Churchie and flipped the momentum to pull back to 3 with 18 seconds to play, forcing a final time-out. Churchie were saved at the free throw line to run out a 4 point win 75-71.
EMERSON JUHASZ AND LEE VAN DER WESTHUIZEN (BBC)
BBC played a great team game but again Emerson Juhasz and Lee Van Der Westhuizen top scored the game with 20 and 21 respectively. Daniel Graham chimed in with 9 points but his defensive efforts to limit Churchie captain Caleb Cronn from having another big game was instrumental in keeping it close.
High praise to Zeke Byrne whose rim protection (seven blocks) kept BBC in the hunt.
Kurt Siwek (Churchie)
Siwek showed his dominance in the paint.
His abillity to stretch the floor with three-pointers and contribute in other facets of the game, including nine rebounds, five steals and two blocks was instrumental in securing the win.
Ed Storen (Churchie)
As always, Storen displayed nerves of steel, knocking down crucial shots at pivotal moments in the game.
His electrifying coast-to-coast drive for an and-one dunk ignited the home crowd and solifified his team’s momentum.
He finished with 19 points, eight rebounds and three steals.
Not to be outdone, Jake Miles-Wrency finished with an easy double-double of 11 poins and 12 rebounds.
He proved a reliable force in scoring and rebounding, providing Churchie with essential second-chance opportunities.
TSS 114 beat BSHS 114-91
Ben Tweedy (TSS)
Tweedy could not have had a better start to the season. After 35 in game one and 53 in game two, the TSS guard recorded a 35-point triple double to secure a huge victory over BSHS.
With 10 assists and 10 rebounds, he controlled the tempo of the game for visitors TSS.
Jaylen Pitman (TSS)
Pitman did Pitman things. He got extra possessions through his elite defensive approach and had some incredible finishes at the hoop.
What a player.
Nikos Karathanosopulous (TSS)
Big man Karathanosopulous had his best game yet for TSS, doing a ton of work that goes unnoticed – but not by his teammates.
Jackson McCabe (TSS)
Talk about an imposing presence. The physical McCabe was a beast on both ends of the floor.
Indy Cotton (TSS)
The Silent Assassin.
Cotton played elite defence and came up with a cheeky 20 points to keep the scoreboard ticking over – something TSS have no troubles doing.
Just look at their scores in the first three games: 117,118,114.
Roman Siulepa (BSHS)
Siulepa was deep in his offensive bag, pulling up from three and taking defenders to school down low.
He ended with 54, but there is no stopping this seemingly unbeatable TSS unit.
Kailan Sales and Carter Waldon (BSHS)
Again Sales and Waldon were impressive in this younger and less experienced BSHS core.
Toowomba Grammar 91 beat Brisbane Grammar 89
Lebron Brooks (Brisbane Grammar)
Brooks was happy to be back and balling he was.
His patterned jump shot was in full effect, even in the late stages under suffocating defences.
He missed a couple free throws down the stretch, however he would normally swish those.
Lachlan Curtin (Brisbane Grammar)
Curtin never gave up. He was active under the basket, earning his team another possession.
There is no team more deserving of a win in this competition than BGS, and the hardworking Curtin is a big reason why they’ve come so close.
Austen Harry (Brisbane Grammar)
The Year 12 centre who came off the bench and played exceptional defence before crashing the boards.
Tawana Ngorima (Toowoomba Grammar)
Ngorima just had to be on here. After all, he hit the game winning layup to edge his rivals out 91-89.
It was the telling combination of a eurostep and left-handed finish which landed victory.
Gregory Terrace 103 beat Nudgee College 80
Phoenix Trego (Gregory Terrace)
As soon as Trego let the first one go, he knew it was going to be a tough day in the office for Nudgee.
His teammates did a great job finding him with his feet set and hands ready.
Again he was lights-out behind the arc, but the most impressive part of his game is that 1) he doesn’t just jack up shots which aren’t there and 2) he will still catch defenders napping if they think for one second he is only a jump-shooter
He is the best three-point-shooter in the competition.
Corey Laffan (Gregory Terrace)
If Trego wasn’t making matters worse enough, the smooth stroke of this lefty was.
Laffan was a crowd silencer with his free throw line jump shots, and three pointers from all over the court.
He was the Robin to Trego’s Batman.
Paul Papacostas, Logan Siolo, Hunter Trego (Gregory Terrace)
The supporting cast of Papacostas, Siolo and Hunter Trego was something special.
Big man Papacostas was efficient from deep, Hunter was a great passer and Siolo looked confident as ever taking opponents one-on-one.
Hunter seemed to know where Phoenix was at all times, while Siolo’s crafty handles had never shone as bright with the tallish guard getting shifty on his way to the rack.
Mladen Markovic (Nudgee)
It was the exact same case as last week for the jump-shooting Markovic.
He doesn’t take the most shots, but when he gets the chance he makes them count.
Rylan Carlisle (Nudgee)
Carlisle had the break out game we were waiting for.
He could have dropped his head as Gregory Terrace stormed 30 ahead but that’s the opposite of what he did.
He got to his spots, took high-percentage looks and was a fabulous finisher who would’ve had almost half of Nudgee’s 80 points.
Isaiah Jorgensen (Nudgee)
It was great to see the baby of the team find his feet and come alive.
In a riveting sequence with heat-checking Trego, Jorgensen drained four threes in four straight possessions.
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