Saints stun at Benalla tournament

MYRTLEFORD District basketball Association will be pleased with their weekend efforts at the Benalla Junior Tournament. A total of eight junior teams across age groups tried their hardest at the tournament against some of the best teams in the region, with fantastic results. The under 12 boys were the standout, recovering from a loss in their first match to charge through to the grand final and win by two points in spectacular fashion. After a humbling 12-point loss to Wodonga, the Saints defeated Deniliquin Black (38-31), but lost by a single point to Yarrawonga Mulwala to finish third overall. An 11-point win in the semi-final booked Myrtleford a grand final showdown against Wodonga, but the Saints were on the back foot They fought back hard, drawing level, and with three seconds on the clock Bowie Cartwright shot the buzzer-beater to claim the win. Coach Kory Batt said it was a well-deserved win from a promising team. “It was pretty much a fresh group from the start of the season, I think we’ve played in three previous grand finals and been bridesmaids in all of them,” he said. “We decided in this tournament we’d go and play in div one, go up a grade and see how we go. “All weekend they played their heart out and fought to the end. “The improvement these boys have shown right throughout is incredible, they’ve worked hard at training all year. “Credit to them, they deserved this win, couldn’t be more happy for them.” The under 14 boys and girls sides also made their finals, but came up just short of the title, while the other teams performed well. MDBA president Dave Hankin said it was a real endorsement of the Myrtleford program to have so many teams feature prominently at tournaments. “It was a great tournament all round, I can’t remember the last time we had teams finish that high across the board,” he said. “For such a relatively small club population-wise, it was good to put those results up. “The atmosphere at those games was just unbelievable – we had three teams in grand finals but there were people there who weren’t involved in those teams that were still there to watch and support each other, it was great.” The Saints’ next outing is the Wangaratta junior tournament, set to be held in Wodonga on the weekend of March 8-9.

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