Draft selections revealed ahead of TBL’s second season

BASKETBALL: Teams are set for the second instalment of the Toowoomba Basketball League.

Manylok Malek. Photo: Nev Madsen

After an encouraging first season was cut short by COVID, four teams have been drafted ahead of tonight’s season launch at Clive Berghofer Arena.

With the draft completed on Friday evening, squads have been locked in for the opening tip.

Manylok (Mayo) Malek was taken as the number one pick for Mountaineers coach Matt Cox and the Southwest Bricklaying Eels.

Ash Peters and the Westridge Fruit Warriors selected Syd Hume with his first pick, with Joseph Johnson going the way of coach Mitch Wormald’s Washed on James Mustangs.

Joel Seaby was taken as Darryl Allen’s first pick in the draft for the Pump Panthers.

A number of players that played in the recently completed QSL season for the Mountaineers were among the high priority picks in the opening rounds.

Cox said the prospect of adding a returning Malek to the squad was too good to pass up.

“We went with Mayo after a few seasons over in the SBL in Western Australia and returning home for the summer,” Cox said.

“We’re very happy with the team we’ve been able to draft. They’re super versatile.

“There’s a good mix of youth and veterans that will help the young players to develop their game and play an exciting brand of basketball.

“Since going to the draft format, as we saw in the first season, all games were very competitive.

“The intensity was there for each game. We saw a lot of teams make some runs. There’s four different coaches all with different styles.”

Games commence at 6pm tonight.

TBL SQUADS

WASHED ON JAMES MUSTANGS: Joseph Johnson, Will Mitchell, JaKobe Hunter, Trevor Grieve, Isaac Wormald, Joe Topalov, Tom Allen, Ash Pailthorpe, Chris Kita – Mitch Wormald

WESTRIDGE FRUIT WARRIORS: Syd Hume, Seth Ham, Dave Werth, Patty Roche, James Lymer, Jacob Holt, Jackson Berghofer, Thon Angui, Sean Lucas

PUMP PANTHERS: Joel Seaby, Cam Weber, Chris Longford, Noah Silcox-Smith, Dylan Fry, Declan Sanders, Kobi Hinch, Jake Allen, Riley Gibson

SOUTHWEST BRICKLAYING EELS: Mayo Malek, Bailey Nwanevu, Josh Allen, Rei Owen, Jason Ebneter, Mitch Davis, Patty O’Boyle, Jacob Pomfrett, Bob Ashford, Garang Deng.

Originally published as Draft selections revealed ahead of TBL’s second season