The Youth Men racked up another massive score as they dealt the Broncos a 30 point loss. The Falcons were once again led by the red hot Kuany Kuany who is making a late run at an All Star Five spot with a 39 point haul. The balanced attack supporting was more than enough to suggest the Falcons are ready for playoff Basketball. The Falcons now sit in equal fourth with Ringwood, however the Hawks hold the head to head advantage. To make matters more interesting the Falcons play the second top team Melbourne this week, while Ringwood take on top placed Diamond Valley. Simple answer: The Falcons need to win and the Hawks need to lose for Waverley to overtake Ringwood and finish in fourth place, anything less will see the Falcons finish fifth. Oh, and it’s a top  six so the Falcons are safe in the playoffs.

The Championship Men have got wins late in the season and secured a finals spot, which they wrapped up this week against Hume City. Platenik, Dillon, Lewis and Threatt were all firing in this one, which serves as an ominous warning for opposing teams as the big guns fire on the eve of Playoff Basketball. What makes things even better is that the Falcons now look the goods to jump to third and avoid first placed Ringwood in the first round of finals. With head to head on the Stingrays, all the Falcons need to do is deal with bottom placed Melbourne this Saturday and third spot is theirs, setting up a first round clash with the Eltham Wildcats. Grand Final rematch anyone?

The Women are not talking up playoff action, but there is certainly something to play for this weekend. Despite good performances from Melissa Moyle and Georgia Stirton, the Falcons went down to Hume City last week, who regained the services of Kiwi national Antonia Edmunson. Although they have endured a season of unfortunate setbacks the Falcons still have a chance to jump off the bottom of the table. There was something special about the night the Falcons snapped their double figure losing streak against the Sherbrooke Suns, the win was great, but what was really great about it was that it was by three points. The Suns beat the Falcons earlier in the season by two points so the Falcons snared a chippy one point head to head advantage. Fast forward to the final round and the Falcons can use that advantage to get off the bottom with a win against the Ringwood Hawks, who really haven’t been the same since their star import left mid-season. The Suns of course have a chance to wrap up second bottom if they can beat Bulleen, but if they falter, the Falcons will come to the game on Sunday knowing what they have a chance to do.

The Youth Women also have a chance to climb up the ladder this week. Currently sitting seventh, the girls can’t catch sixth placed Geelong who hold a game and head to head on them, but they can catch fifth placed Eltham. The Wildcats belted the Falcons by 22 early in the season and it was hard to see anything coming down to head to head between these teams. Perhaps this is why the Wildcats capitulated against the Falcons the next time they played and let the Falcons score an unexpected 23 point win. Well here we are, after some late season form the Falcons made a run up the ladder and can now overtake the Wildcats in another ‘we win they lose’ scenario. This was made possible by the Falcons good win last week against the Broncos. Melanie Ioannidis and Daniella Pisano both scored well for the Falcons and young guard Maria Nomikoudis went berserk on the boards with 15 rebounds.

There is just one week left before finals, the Men play an away double header at Oakleigh on Saturday against Melbourne Tigers while the Women grace the floorboards at the Nest on Sunday for the final time in 2012 for a Double Header.