Knox Raiders Under 14 Boy’s took out the bronze gong at the National Club Championships.
By Tania Martin
KNOX Raiders under 14 boy’s team rounded off a terrific week of basketball in darwin recently taking home the bronze medal after defeating Nunawading Spectres 64-51 at the National Club Championships.
The nationals is a Basketball Australia sanctioned event which sees the top 24 teams from around the country battle it out over a week long tournament.
Last year, Knox won the gold at the prestigious event in what was the first national title taken out by the Raiders at the level.
With only three remaining players from the gold medal winning team in 2007, the Raiders were led by head coach Dale Crotty and assistant coach Sean Carroll and embarked upon darwin where the annual tournament would be hosted.
The Raiders would have high expectations placed upon their young shoulders as they began their title defense run but would show maturity and professionalism far beyond their 12 and 13 year old ages.
Up first on day one was the North West Tasmania Thunder, who put up a strong showing against the preferred Raiders but it would not be enough as the Raiders opened their winning account 71-44.
Day two of action saw the Raiders start to find their rhythm as the confidence in each other’s ability started to shine.
Knox would notch up easy victories against Coffs Harbour 68-30 and Sturt 92-32.
On day three, the Raiders would continue to steamroll through the competition, defeating the Bulleen Boomers 65-51 and would not let up on day four with a birth into the semi-finals at stake when they faced off against Canberra.
The Raiders would knock off the team from the nation’s capital 73-59 and shift their focus to the semi-finals where Werribee awaited.
Unfortunately, the Raiders would be stopped in their tracks against Werribee on the back of the tournament’s best player Michael Luxford’s performance.
The Raiders were defeated 68-58, Dylan Hogarty-Doyle leading his team with 20 points.
Although disappointed by their defeat, the boys would have an opportunity to take home the bronze medal if they could knock over local-rival Nunawading on the tournament’s final day of play.
The bronze medal game saw the Raiders come out a little flat in the first half, but would recoup in the second and lift the intensity as the realisation the boys only had twenty minutes of basketball left together as a team.
Again, Dylan Hogarty-Doyle (20 points) would shine, while teammate Sean Noone would record a game high 21 points for the Raiders as they rolled over the Spectres 64-51 to take home the bronze medal and be recognised as the third best team in the country.
Head coach Crotty was praised his players’ “phenomenal performance” throughout the tournament.
“Third in the country is a terrific effort, had last year’s team not won it, we would have been praised for our result a lot more,” he said.
