Watch all the action from the U18 and Junior Wheelchair National Championships
Livestream: Catch every under 18 NT Men’s game at the Basketball Australia National Championships and replays, and stay up to date with all things team NT here.
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The Under-18 Basketball Australia National Championships are finally here.
The tournament, which is one of five key national pathways events, will take over the Southpine Sports Complex (Brisbane) from April 7-14 and will see representatives from around the country go head-to-head all week long.
The Northern Territory have found themselves in Pool B and will face off against, Victoria Country, South Australia Country, Western Australia Metro, New South Wales Metro, Australian Capital Territory and Queensland North.
GAME 7
REPLAY: Western Australian Country 126 def. 63 Northern Territory
NT - 12 14 13 24 (63)
WAC - 31 29 29 27 (126)
Team NT suffered another loss in the under-18s championships, but the form of Aiden McKenney and Brian Ramsamy gave the side plenty to cheer about.
The NT managed exactly half of WA Country’s score in their 126-63 loss, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort from a side that has been forced to rally time and time again.
The Northern Territory side fought hard posting double digits in each quarter, and left their strongest to last with 24 points to put some respectability on the board.
McKenney and Ramsamy, who have had strong tournaments in spite of results, were again the standouts posting game high points with 27 and 26 respectively.
Daymon Moyd was another who showed his talents topping the match for rebounds with nine and putting out a joint team high of three assists.
However, with just three players on the bench and just one point coming outside the starting five the NT struggled to make a real dent in WA’s charge towards victory.
In fact, only the aforementioned shooters made it beyond five points in a match where their opposition took advantage defensively.
The NT conceded 37 turnovers to 17 while shooting at under 50 per cent to make the early morning encounter ever more difficult for the Top End side.
Meanwhile, WA made full use of their capabilities outscoring NT with their bench alone, which made up 72 of the side’s total points.
Billy McRae was the side’s top scorer with 24 points in just 14 minutes of game time, while Noah Inman totalled 19 off the bench.
GAME 6
REPLAY: New South Wales Metro 140 def. 53 Northern Territory
NT – 19 15 10 9 (53)
NSWM – 34 41 33 32 (140)
The Northern Territory went down by 87 points to a very strong NSWM in their sixth outing at the national championships.
In what was their second game of the day, team NT were again outplayed across the board, but kept on turning up for each other despite this.
The same areas of trouble reared their heads once more, namely a lack of points off the bench and a high number of turnovers.
The NT gave up possession on 33 occasions to NSWM’s 17 and only scored two points from their bench to NSWM’s 55.
Aiden Mckenney was again one of the team’s best, scoring 20 points, making six rebounds, and recording an assist and a block.
Daymon Moyd and Brian Ramsamy were the only other players to crack double digits, making 13 points each.
GAME 5
REPLAY: Queensland North 109 def. 66 Northern Territory
NT – 9 24 16 17 (66)
QN – 23 31 27 28 (109)
Team NT put together a very solid bounce-back performance despite the losing result.
After a lacklustre opening period that saw the side net just nine points, the boys from the Territory shifted it up a gear in the second, netting 24.
They continued this positive play into the third where they again showed fight in their defensive play, as well as continuing to put together some nice play on the offensive side of the court.
Even though the side ultimately went down by 43 points, this was by far and away their best performance across the board.
A big improvement was notably four players recording double digit contributions.
Aiden Mckenney and Daymon Moyd both netted 10 points while Mitchell Hardy and Brian Ramsamy scored 20 a piece.
Turnovers and points allowed from turnovers was an area of improvement as well, however bench points continued to be an issue, scoring six to QN’s 63.
Ramsamy was the star of the show in his long 33 minute spell, racking up four threes, 4/5 free-throws, two rebounds, three steals and two blocks to go along with his 20 point tally.
The team will have a quick turnaround and not much time for rest, as they take-on NSW Metro at 4.30pm.
GAME 4
REPLAY: Victoria Country 122 def. 45 Northern Territory
NT – 14 2 16 13 (45)
VC – 31 24 31 34 (122)
What started out as a brilliant display of resilience and effort quickly turned into a bit of a disappointing outing for team NT.
Up against a very strong and very tall Victoria Country outfit, the boys from the NT suffered their fourth defeat in as many games.
The NT came out with a vengeance in the opening term, stifling VC’s offence with some great hustle defence and kept pace in terms of scoring till a time-out came with 3 mins and 20 seconds to go on the clock.
From there, the NT let the game slip, allowing a string of points that blew out the score.
Their efforts in the second quarter left a lot to desire.
They went away from their defence structures and hustle and allowed VC to control the run of play. Ultimately, team NT would only score two points in the entire quarter while conceding 26.
They bounced back in the third and showed some true grit but struggled against some of VC’s bigs who used their height to great effect in the paint.
The fourth was similar to the third, seeing VC putting up 34 points to NT’s 13 to win by 77 points.
Team NT struggled again for any offensive contributions off the bench, scoring four points while VC put 77.
The NT also shot themselves in the foot by turning over the ball 40 times while VC were much sharper, only losing the ball on 12 occasions.
Aiden Mckenney finished up as NT’s and the game’s top point scorer with 19 points and was very impressive in a struggling side.
Mckenney also recorded three rebounds, two assists and a block.
Brian Ramsamy was another who impressed, showing a lot of ticker on both ends of the court.
He finished with a very well deserved 16 points and added to his great performance with seven rebounds, three steals and a block in his 27 minute stint.
The team will face-off against Queensland North in their fifth pool match with tip-off at 8.30am.
GAME 3
REPLAY: Australian Capital Territory 10 Northern Territory
NT – 14 15 14 22 (65)
ACT – 23 21 31 32 (107)
The NT are 0-3 after going down in their third match to the ACT in a 107-65 scoreline.
Unlike their previous two outings, the NT came to play in the opening half, keeping the ACT from running away with the score.
The men in orange and black held their own in defence, shutting down a number of breakaway chances and restricting the ACT to 23 and 21 points in the first two terms.
However, the half-time-break was the worst thing that could’ve happened for the side as it struggled to emulate their first half efforts.
The ACT started to control the run of play with relative ease, smashing the paint and capitalising on second chances.
The NT struggled again for any production off the bench, scoring just four points compared to ACT’s 65.
And it was a similar stat-line to their previous clashes, allowing 70 points in the paint while scoring 24 of their own, letting in 40 points off turnovers to their 14 and scoring seven fast break points to the ACT’s 36.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom however, as some of the core balled out.
In particular, Daymon Moyd was a sniper from the three-point line, sinking six three’s from eight attempts and leading the NT’s scoring with 20 points. He also dished up six rebounds, one assist and two steals in an impressive 25-minute performance.
Brian Ramsamy was solid again in the scorer’s column, netting 17 points in his 31-minute spell as well as recording two rebounds, one assist, four steals and a block.
Team NT will face off against Victoria Country on Court 2 with tip-off at 12.30pm.
GAME 2
REPLAY: South Australia Country 138 def. 50 Northern Territory
NT – 16 8 11 15 (50)
SAC – 38 30 29 41 (138)
Team NT have suffered their second consecutive loss in as many games, going down to SAC by 88 points.
Unfortunately for the side, they were once again outclassed throughout the duration of the game, with offence and defence alike unable to put it together.
Down 20-3 after the opening five minutes of the clash, team NT did show some fightback in the final two minutes of the term, clawing back the deficit to 22.
SAC turned it up a gear in the second, and continually pounced on any loose ball or slightly misjudged pass, resulting in a plethora of points off turnovers.
The halftime break was the only real breather for the NT as SAC continued their dominance putting up 70 points to NT’s 26, to win 138-50.
Like the first game, the NT didn’t really get any scoring from the bench, putting up six points to SAC’s 61.
Points conceded from turnovers were again an issue, allowing 87 while scoring just seven of their own.
SAC showed their class around the court, finishing the game with four 20-plus point players and three in the 10s.
As for individual performances, Aiden McKenney put up 10 points in his 26 minute stint, with five rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
Daymon Moyd also reached the double figure mark with 10 points in his 27 minutes as well as making six rebounds and an assist.
Brian Ramsamy top scored with 14 points, but was a bit careless with the ball, coughing up 15 turnovers.
The side will have to regroup and adjust their game plan as the competition doesn’t get any easier from here, with their next match coming against the ACT at 9.30am tomorrow morning.
GAME 1
REPLAY: Western Australia Metro 112 def. 53 Northern Territory
NT – 15 8 11 19 (53)
WAM – 35 38 25 14 (112)
It was a rather underwhelming first outing for the boys from the NT as they suffered a heavy 59-point defeat at the hands of WA Metro.
While they put up a valiant fight, they were on the backfoot from the offset, and never held a lead at any stage in the contest.
The NT struggled to contain their opponents inside the paint and from the perimeter, and trailed by 20 points after the first.
This trend continued for the next two quarters, where they allowed 63 points while scoring 19.
The only real respite came in the last period as WAM chose to keep their bench players in the game.
As for the stats, they didn’t look much prettier.
The NT conceded 41 points from turnovers to their 12, allowed 33 second chance points to their four, scored 32 points in the paint to WAM’s 72 and only scored 8 points from the bench in comparison to WAM’s 63 point haul.
Captain of the side, Mitchell Hardy, was the pick of the bunch for the Territory, putting up 14 points in 28 minutes with seven two-pointers, five rebounds and a steal.
Aiden McKenney was handy with 12 points, a rebound, an assist and a block, so too was Brian Ramsay who put up 11 points, six rebounds and two assists.
The NT will play their second game of the tournament this afternoon at 1.30pm against South Australia Country.
MEET THE SQUAD
#4 – MUNYARADZI BHOWA
– A strong defensive point guard and a great team player.
#5 – LACHLAN AMOS
– Amos is a very quick point guard who gives his all in defence and sets up his teammates well.
#6 – MARKO REGOJEVIC
– A natural athlete, Regojevic has been described as a long athletic wing and a monster from the three-point line.
#8 – LIAM GLENCROSS
– An all around solid athlete, Glencross can get to the rim, knock down three’s and is a very versatile defender.
#9 – AIDEN MCKENNEY
– A very athletic wing, McKenney has been described as being able to ‘score with the best of them’, and is also not too shabby in defence.
#10 – MITCHELL HARDY
– Hardy is a strong, athletic forward who has the natural ability to create shots for not only himself but his teammates as well.
#11 – BRIAN RAMSAMY
– A super crafty and naturally gifted guard, Ramsamy is a menace upfront and can score from anywhere.
#12 – NATHAN GUERIN
– Described as a ‘strong defensive big’, Guerin can finish well around the rim and stretch to the perimeter.
#13 – DAYMON MOYD
– Moyd is a smart forward that specialises in knocking down three’s for fun and setting up his teammates on offence.
#14 – STEFAN GIWA
– Giwa is a long athletic big that can contest shots from anywhere.
RESERVES
– Tyler Ashford
– Spencer Mowat
– Jack Sonntag
– Kye Truscott
– Shane Warford
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