Live stream: SA Country ready for success at Basketball Australia U18 and Junior Wheelchair National Championships

After a standout U16 national campaign, one of South Australia’s rising young stars is ready to put his name in lights at the BA U18 Nationals - and help his team ‘achieve the ultimate feeling.’

SA Country basketball young gun Kale Matthews-Hampton believes his underdog team can compete with the best and cause an upset at the BA U18, Junior Wheelchair national championships.

The championships begin on Sunday, April 7 at Brendale, in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, and you can catch every game LIVE and EXCLUSIVE right here on Adelaide Now and KommunityTV.

U18s, Junior Wheelchair National Champs HUB: Daily links, key info, full schedule

Check out the LIVE STREAM schedule below.

Matthews-Hampton, who also plays for South Adelaide, was one of the players of the U16 tournament last season after combining with Ethan MacDermot to lead SA Country on a shock run to the grand final against Vic Metro.

With many of those players now representing the U18 side, the star guard believed they could shock the nation again.

SA Country's Kale Matthews-Hampton. Picture: Michael Farnell.

“I think we definitely have a point to prove because we’re pretty much never among the favourites going into these tournaments,” Matthews-Hampton said.

“The team dynamic is a bit different this year as Ethan and I are both bottom age, so we’ve got some older guys with more experience who can also lead us and perform at a high level.

“I reckon we’ve been training really well and we’re positive and optimistic after last year. It was heartbreaking to lose the final, but it was amazing to get to that stage and we want to achieve the ultimate feeling this year.”

Matthews-Hampton was a phenom at last year’s U16 championships, averaging 28.5 points, 6.1 assists and 6.4 steals across the tournament.

While he believed individual development would be important this year, he said winning games and helping the team in any way possible would be his top priority.

“Training with some of the best competition in Adelaide and trying to play the highest level possible has been key to my development recently, and I want to continue on that path.

Matthews-Hampton (on the floor) was a star at U16 level.

“I think I’ve still got a lot to prove. I had a pretty good nationals last year and I want to be a name a lot of people have heard of.

“At the end of the day though we want to win games and we all want to be effective in any way we can for the team, that’s the main goal.”

Matthews-Hampton’s SA Country side will have their work cut out, however, with the NSW teams and both Vic Metro and Vic Country all looking strong.

He said the team would thrive on the challenge.

“I think overall our team is stronger this year, but we’re obviously up against some really good competition, too.

“Some of the older guys from other states are very good and the Vic Metro team has a lot of big names, so it’d be good to go after them.”