From Co-Captains of Basketball, Luca Zanarini & James Foster
Captains of Basketball Report
Juniors:
This week was a tough competition for the juniors. Trinity, being a challenging opposition, lead a few teams to be defeated. The 8A’s, mid game, lost key play Jack Ringrose, which left the team disjointed, unable to bring the game back. Jake Weinstein scored 24 points, however the boys lost by a large margin of 20+ points.
The 9A’s team was also fighting for a win as the game was very close, however unfortunately they lost by just 6 points as the strong Trinity side won 38-32. The 10As played a close as throughout the game the score was within a few points. By halftime Waverley led by 2, however Trinity took advantage of some errors and came out with a close 7-point lead to finish the game with a win. Although these were disappointing results, it was still a valuable learning experience for the young players and showed that they are going to be very competitive over the following years.
2nd V:
With this weeks opponent, Trinity, Waverley knew that it would be a tough match against the 8 year straight victors. With the hard work throughout training, this would have to be shown in the game. As the ball tipped off, the game already was off to a slow start. With both teams not taking advantage offensively, the scores were low.
However, this picked up later in the half, when Ash Backlund scored from under the ring allowing him to be fouled and make some easy free throws to bring Waverley into the game. Although, Trinity then matched this with some quick points to bring the game tied 12-12 at halftime. Huddling up and reviewing the first half, the boys and coach Mr Joan Creus Custodio went through some plays and holes to fix for the next half. As the second half started, a quick 3 point shot by Trinity saw them taking advantage of the tired Waverley squad as they moved to a lead of 4-5 points. This led to the Waverley boys breaking up, allowing Trinity to capitalize, scoring some good shots. Closer to the end, Waverley made one more push through some offensive plays to try get back into the game, however the clustered defense saw Waverley get into foul trouble which again allowed Trinity to keep the lead to the end of the game winning 39-27. The boys are commended on their effort, especially coming up against such tough competition, but allowed them to see errors in their game to work on for next week’s undefeated opponent, Barker.
1st V:
The Waverley 1st V faced up against a young and talented Trinity team who were 2-2 in the CAS competition. This was a must win game for Waverley to be able to pursue their goal of winning a CAS championship. From the opening tip it was evident that Waverley wanted to maintain their perfect home record by playing as a unit and fighting for every ball. Early on in the first half Waverley was trailing by 1 point with the score 5-6 but a three from Kyle Goulding ignited the bench and boosted Waverley’s confidence, which led the boys to hold Trinity to their 6 points for the remainder of the quarter. The second quarter showcased Ryan Abbott’s post moves along with a fast break dunk. Some excellent passing and scoring from Jeremy Petritsis and Dion Hatziandreou added to the lead.
Nearing the end of the second quarter a defensive lapse led to an easy Trinity basket to reduce the lead just 12 as the buzzer went. During the halftime break Waverley began to evaluate on focus points and aim to maintain and extend their lead for the second half. The start of the third quarter, Waverley came out slow missing several shots, back to back allowing Trinity to narrow the gap to just 8 points. Due to a scoring outburst from Hayden Walton, this sparked Waverley to regain control of the game. Unfortunately, late in the third quarter, Ryan Abbott aggravated his already injured ankle and was unable to return for the rest of the game. Ryan top scored with 16 points and will miss the upcoming game against Barker due to this injury. The third quarter came to a close Waverley contained Trinity to 39 points and extended their lead to 18-point lead. The fourth quarter initially gave Waverley some breathing room to test certain plays specifically due to the lead, however Trinity changed their defense and forced a shift of play. Due to the defensive changes from Trinity, it allowed Waverly to trial newly implemented plays, this experience helped the team move forward and was also a learning curve for the boys to realise that there are still areas of improvement, such as free throws and turnovers (which had been previous focus points) which will need to be adjusted before the upcoming match against the undefeated Barker.
From Convenor of Basketball, Anthony Gibbs
Convenor’s Report
Having resurrected their seasons after strong wins against Cranbrook last Friday night, Waverley 1st ’s and 2nd ’s matched up against formidable foe Trinity. Although there had been some close games in the past, 1st ’s and 2nd ’s had not beaten Trinity in the seven seasons I have been in charge of basketball.
The 2nd ’s began well turning aggressive defense into some easy fast breaks, which resulted in points, however turnovers and missed shots kept Trinity in the game. At half-time the scores were locked at 12-all. In the second half, Waverley’s inability to box-out their opponents effectively under the ring allowed Trinity to turn offensive rebounds into second chance opportunities for which they capitalised. Trinity were also given additional help through Waverley’s fouls, which sent the men in green to the free-throw to collect a string of easy baskets. The full-time score was 39-27 in Trinity’s favour. Ash Backlund, Justin Capra and Daniel Callaghan played exceptionally well. The 2nd ’s will need to lift considerably this week to be competitive against a very strong Barker outfit.
The 1st V were up against a young Trinity side. Despite a couple of injuries to key players, Waverley were able to cover these extremely well during the game. Coach Jovine implemented new defensive strategies and pressure releases during the week in preparation for Trinity and Barker. The new strategies worked very well in the 1st ’s trial game against Moriah during the week. Against Trinity, the 1st ’s started well moving to a 10-6 lead at quarter time. By the end of the half, Waverley had increased their lead to 12 points. At the final break, Waverley was up 57-39 and
looking to finish strongly in the final quarter. Trinity were able to trade baskets with Waverley in the final quarter, however the 1st ’s had already done enough to win the game 76-57 and chalk up an historic win. Dion Hatziandreou, Hayden Walton and Mike El-Haddad had standout games. Coach Jovine was particularly pleased with his team’s performance, especially their ability to break Trinity’s defensive pressure. He believes there is still some fine-tuning this week that should hold the 1st’s in good stead this weekend against a highly competitive Barker.
After four rounds, the 1st V sit in outright second place with 3 wins and have a crucial game this weekend against undefeated premiership favourites Barker. The 1st V will no doubt be looking to put in a strong showing against Barker to finish the first half of the season on a high and strengthen their claims for premiership favourites. With two wins and two losses, the 2nd V sit in equal second place with three other schools and will also need to play very well to overcome an undefeated Barker side on the weekend.
Thank you to the parents of the 1 st ’s and 2 nd ’s players for hosting another lavish after- game feast – the best in the CAS!
In other games, Waverley enjoyed considerable success against Trinity with the following teams winning their games:
- 10B (33-31)
- 10C (27-25)
- 10D (42-18)
- 10E (36-35)
- 10F (37-20)
- 9B (32-30)
- 9E (46-10)
- 9H (28-23)
- 8B (28-24)
- 8C (32-19)
- 8E (34-22)
- 8F (24-20)
- 8H (15-12).
The 9D’s drew 30-all, while the 10A’s (43-35), 9A’s (28-22) and 9G’s (37-36) lost close games.
The USA / Canada Basketball Tour departs in just 21 days’ time with all 32 students and 6 staff members undertaking travel through the Pacific Northwest region of North America playing up to 7 different US high schools. Waverley will be represented by three teams – Varsity, Junior Varsity and Freshman, who will participate in three home-stays with American families as well as attend the Portland Trailblazers versus Houston Rockets NBA game, an NCAA game between the University of Washington and Loyola Marymount University and a WHL ice hockey game between Seattle Thunderbirds and the Prince George Cougars.
Waverley Basketball is now using Team App to publish information such as scores, news, fixtures, team lists and announcements.
Best of luck to all teams this weekend against Barker.
