A top of the table clash in U14 Boys B between Wildcats Gold and Ballan Brumbies lived up to the hype, both teams playing some quality basketball.
With these teams boasting six of the divisions 10 top scorers between them, high scoring was almost guaranteed.
The ladder leading Wildcats came out firing from deep, William Loader hitting a pair of threes and Jesse Costopoulous drilling a deep shot of his own. For their part, Ballan got moving through some rugged James Pace drives and good work on the offensive boards by Barney Batiste.
Wildcats hot shooting showed no signs of abating as they hit practically everything both in the key and from distance in the opening 10 minutes, Loader proving a handful. Ballan hung around, utilising their size advantage inside as Angus Tranter posted up his smaller opponents. The Brumbies, though, were showing signs of frustration. Pace was starting to look off teammates and take on increasingly difficult drives, whilst Batiste committed a pair of needless fouls.
With Wildcats holding a 23-14 lead, th Brumbies faced a potential disaster as Batiste committed his 4th foul, coach Jye Mullane chaining the league scoring leader to the bench for the remainder of the half. Pace was caught playing unusually slack defense as Ryan Young picked up a pair of easy buckets for Wildcats, though he made amends at the other end with some strong finishes and a lovely kick out to Cruze Miller for a deep two as Ballan came back into the contest to trail 24-27 at the half.
Ballan came out with renewed defensive focus in the 2nd half as they started to close out harder on Wildcats shooters and became far more active in the passing lanes. When not creating turnovers, Ballan forced Wildcats into difficult shots which allowed them to use their superior size on the defensive glass. In turn, Ballan was able to get running. Batiste, in particular, starting to assert himself.
When Wildcats were able to slow Ballan's running game down, the playmaking of Will Rogers and the craft of Jack Clark came to the fore. However, Wildcats were having to choose between crowding the paint or leaving the Brumbies shooters open. They chose the latter, giving Miller, Rogers and Fletcher Garner little airspace. That, though, allowed Ballan's bigs to dominate. Batiste, Pace and Tranter scoring 25 points between them in the 2nd half.
Despite Ballan's much improved play and Wildcats outside shooting regressing to the mean, the ladder leaders refused to go away, Harrington Kydd cutting Ballan's lead to just one point with a little over four minutes remaining.
That, though, was the last of the resistance. Driving baskets from Batiste and Pace (21 and 20 points in the match, respectively), punctuated by three pointers from Clark and Miller saw Ballan bust open the game in the final minutes to win 55-43 and with it take top spot on the ladder with just two rounds remaining.
U10 Boys D (White) defeated Phoenix Bullets: 19-9
U10 Boys D (Blue) defeated Phoenix Falcons: 22-20
U12 Boys E lost to Sovereign Knights Purple: 8-20
U12 Boys C defeated Excies Acmy White: 40-24
U12 Girls C lost to Saints Dream: 20-21
U14 Boys F (White) defeated Drummo Dragons Black: 29-26
U14 Boys F (Blue) lost to Excies Acmy: 6-29
U14 Boys B defeated Wildcats Gold: 55-43
U14 Girls C lost to Wildcats: 15-19
U16 Boys F defeated Sovereign Knights Purple: 26-23
U16 Boys E defeated Wildcats Gold: 36-22
U16 Boys D defeated Drummo Dragons Green: 35-34
U16 Girls C defeated Wildcats Blue: 22-16
U19 Boys E drew with Wildcats: 34-34
U19 Boys C lost to Excies Acmy Maroon: 32-57