Junior Falcons

16.2 Boys get Grand Final Win
30/01/2014

The Under 16.2 Boys had a successful weekend culminating in a Grand Final win. Coach Adam Scinski sent us this run-down of the tournament: 

The boys played their first game on Friday night against the Sydney Comets. They were a big a physical team that out-muscled us in the end and won by four points.

Our second game was against a much smaller Craigieburn team. It was a different kind of test for the boys. We needed to work the ball inside a little more to our post players and successfully work through their full court press. It was another close game, however we got our first victory with a five point win.

Next we faced a very good Collingwood team. It was a very physical contest. We built up a lead in the second half, however Collingwood came storming back. Although, we had enough of an advantage to win by three points.

Saturday night we played Kilsyth 2. We came into the game feeling pretty confident, however Kilsyth surprised us with their agility and accurate outside shooting. We fell behind early in the second half and worked our way back into the game, however time ran out on us and we ended up losing by six points.

Sunday morning we played Bulleen 2. This was a close contest throughout. We did however build a comfortable lead in the second half, but Bulleen came back at us strong. But we held on for a nail biting two point win.

Our final game of the tournament before the finals was against Camberwell 2. We got off to a very good start and built up an early lead. However, Camberwell changed up their defense to a suffocating zone and this threw us off our game. We ended up losing by six points when the final buzzer sounded.

Unfortunately we just missed out on finishing in the top four. However fifth position meant that we still played in the second division finals. Our semi-final game was against Camberwell 2, who we had just played the night before. We needed to make adjustments against their zone defense. The evening before I spent some time with the boys working through our zone offence, and this seemed to have given the boys a little more confidence.

Again we got off to a very quick start building a comfortable lead against Camberwell. As expected they played their zone against us, however the boys adjusted well and didn't fall into the same traps that hurt them the previous night. We held on at the end to win by seven points.

Our grand final was a rematch against Bulleen 2. This was a very close game throughout. However, we went on a bit of a run in the second half, tightened up our defense and held on to win by six points.

Overall this tournament was a fantastic opportunity for the team to bond and play together leading up to the next grading phase. Big props for the boys. We certainly had some disappointing losses and shaky moments over the four days, however they played through these difficulties and I thought our final two games were our best games of the tournament.