St. Ninian's Junior Basketball team faced QEII in the semi-final and having lost to them in the league campaign, we knew we were in for a tough game. The 1st quarter was entertaining, but for the wrong reasons. Both teams were unable to make good opportunities count, not due to good defending but by not having composure. The 1st quarter ended 0-1 to QEII.
During our team talk the boys showed excellent tactical knowledge and maturity to acknowledge their own shortcomings. We decided to go back to basics, catch the ball when receiving, move off the ball and defend man to man in a half court press. It wasn't long into the 2nd quarter where the gameplay started to work, we moved the ball well which gave us time to finish chances with composure. This continued for two quarters and by the end of the 3rd we were up by 20 points, almost all players were scoring excellent lay-ups, showing their quality. The 4th quarter was a little lackluster and QEII made a late rally to close the point gap. Seb Madey was awarded player of the match for key baskets and being simple but effective on offence.
With an excellent performance, a win of 34-21 put us into the final! Unfortunately the final didn't go our way, losing 37-22, but the St. Ninian's boys can be very proud of themselves this season.
Junior Basketball
