Pacific Schools Games

[The Oracle]

This tournament replaced the Australian All-Schools Championships.
NSW Women and ACT Men won their respective titles in 18's over Victoria and NSW respectively.
History repeated itself in both the Men's and Women's divisions.
The grand final defeat was the first for NSW Men in the tournament (but in the most important game).
Vic Women defeated NSW in the preliminaries and then lost the grand final to NSW (Vic's only defeat).
These are the NSW results.

MEN: NSW 64 def ACT 50; NSW 69 def WA 65; NSW 108 def China 51; NSW 110 def Singapore 49; Semi Final NSW 66 def VIC 62; Gold Medal Game ACT 74 def NSW 50
Sebastian Zakrzewski (Penrith) 37 points, 15 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 5 blocked shots
Ben Urwin (Hills) 25 points, 14 boards, 3 assists
Sam McBeath (Macarthur) 45 points, 33 boards, 5 assists, 4 steals, 4 blocked shots
Will Lopez (Sutherland) 58 points, 26 boards, 5 assists, 3 steals, 1 blocked shot
Luke Devlin (Sydney City) 66 points, 37 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocked shots
Steve Davis 30 points, 24 boards, 4 assists, 9 blocked shots
Zachariah Compton (Port Macquarie) 83 points, 47 boards, 5 assists, 4 steals, 7 blocked shots
Greg Chaplin (Hills) 25 points, 18 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 blocked shot
Josh Black (Central Coast) 48 points, 22 boards, 20 assists, 5 steals, 1 blocked shot
Daniel Sepokas (Bankstown) 50 points, 25 boards, 5 assists, 6 steals

WOMEN: VIC 83 def NSW 81; NSW 67 def TAS 59; NSW 123 def Singapore 26; NSW 105 def NT 19; Quarter Final NSW 70 def QLD 64; Semi Final NSW 73 def WA 51; Gold Medal Game NSW 66 def VIC 57
Lia Voorthuis (Illawarra) 46 points, 25 boards, 9 assists, 9 steals, 4 blocked shots
Lauren Nicholson (Sutherland) 88 points, 25 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals, 1 blocked shot
Rachel Murray (Bathurst) 47 points, 21 boards, 6 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocked shots
Razzearne Muir (Shoalhaven) 73 points, 40 boards, 1 assist, 7 steals, 5 blocked shots
Haylee Lepaio (Bathurst) 51 points, 51 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals, 4 blocked shots
Ellie Gleeson (Illawarra) 47 points, 25 boards, 6 assists, 3 steals
Kelsey Gardiner (Moss Vale) 66 points, 25 boards, 10 assists, 11 steals
Jaimee Cohen (Sydney City) 63 points, 43 boards, 3 assists, 9 steals
Maddison Allen (Newcastle) 39 points 50 boards, 7 assists, 4 steals, 12 blocked shots
Susannah Walmsley (Newcastle) 65 points, 28 boards, 6 assists, 3 steals, 1 blocked shot

[roadie]

Two excellent tournaments from both the boys and girls teams. Unfortunately, the boys 'pulled an Opals' and produced their worst game of the tournament in the final, while the girls produced probably their best game of the tournament in the final. Congrats to all players and staff.

[Coach D]

Let's not forget the 12 and under kids were Victoria won both boys and girls titles, over NSW and SA respectively.

Congratulations to the Team Vic coaches and managers particulary the boys coach Chris Davies (Dandenong) and Team Manager Paul Arney who both retire after 7 years with 7 gold medals. Nice work Chris & Paul!

Pacific school Games is held every 3-4 years and Australian Schools Championships will return from next year until 2012 when the next Pacific School Games is held at a venue yet to be determined.

[coachdb]

It was a great week, and we were reasonably happy to take bronze home, although disappointed to lose down the strtech in the semi.

In the 18 and under Boys we only had four really tough teams, although they were all at a good standard.

QLD had Jeromie Hill (21.5ppg, 9.3rpg) and Damon Heuir (20.2ppg, 4.7rpg, 2.3apg) dominate for them, both shooting around 60%. We couldn't contain Hill in the pool game and they beat us easily, getting 27 up at one stage before we finsihed 13 down. Without Isaih Tueta at PG (9.8ppg, 5.4apg) we were able to get after them in the Bronze game after forcing 34 turnovers (Heuir 10 turnovers) and shooting 47 more shots. In this one we won easy.

NSW had Josh Black (8.0ppg, 3.7rpg, 3.3apg), Luke Devlin (11.0ppg, 6.2rpg) , Will Lopez (9.7ppg, 4.3rpg), Daniel Sepokas (10.0ppg, 5.0rpg) and Zach Compton (13.8ppg, 7.8rpg). Compton killed us in the semi-final with 21 points and 8 rebounds. Kids of that sheer physical size don't play basketball down here - they've already gone to AFL by 18 years of age. He is a monster. After a 30-17 third quarter it was devastating to show our lack of preparation down the stretch, shooting 3/23 and scoring just 6 points in the fourth to lose by 4 points. :oops: :oops:

After a slow start, the ACT boys really hit their straps in the finals. Hugh Greenwood (18.0ppg, 9.7rpg, 2.3apg) was awesome with 23 and 14 in the semi against QLD. Todd Blachfield (20.8ppg, 8.8rpg) was a dead-set star in the semi with his 20 points in the third killing off the game, including a massive dunk. He had 29 and 11 in the semi and 19 and 12 in the final. Cody Ellis (12.7ppg, 7.8rpg) simply filled in where he was needed, rebounding, blocking shots nailing three's. He brought it in the final with 21 points, 15 rebounds, 5 blocks and 3 steals as they smashed NSW.

Of the VIC boys, Steve Viterbo (14.7ppg, 3.3rpg, 4.0spg), Dan Fisher (12.8ppg, 7.3rpg) and Nick Gallaugher (5.5ppg, 2.7rpg, 2.2apg) were named to the All-Australian Team.

Josh Black was unlucky to not be selected, but I think the semi-final was one part of the decision, when Nick (4 points on 1/7 FG, 2 assists and 0 turnovers) rendered Josh (2 points on 0/5 FG, 0 assists and 3 turnovers) ineffective, although NSW got the chockies. :argh: The other part of the decision may have been assist:turnover ratio where Nick had 13:4 compared to Josh's 20:25. Probably should have both got in with Sepokas possibly the unlucky player to miss out.

Of the rest of the VIC players, Liam Gibcus (12.2ppg, 7.2rpg) had a tough job inside, but no-one else really stood out above the others in what was a great team effort which was built on tough full-court defense and overwhelming the opposition by the sheer volume of shots - we really could'nt make sh1t!!

Of the rest of the teams, WA's Ryan Godfrey (22.2ppg, 3.5rpg, 3.3apg) led the tournament in scoring and was named as an All-Australian, while Tom Zerna of TAS (18.2ppg, 5.8rpg, 2.8apg) was impressive as he torched us for 24 points.

If we could shoot, we may have been a chance against ACT, but going on our last three performances...we really need to take a leaf out of QLD's book, who had six players in the top 13 for FG%. I know what I'll be spending my time teaching when I get back to the Spooks!! :roll:

A great week had by all. Thanks to everyone involved for the excellent competition. :D

[roadie]

coachdb - thanks for a frank and balanced assessment of the week. Also very diplomatic I thought. I didn't see much of the boys' tournament but I did see the majority of the semi-final between you and the sky blues and it was a great game. I thought Compton was an absolute horse down the stretch for NSW, and while still very raw, showed some excellent potential. Apparently he hasn't used weights yet, just lots of surfing. Don't want to be around when he fills out and think we should strongly discourage him from ever kicking a ball (I had that discussion with a couple of people down there as AFL are starting to make inroads into NSW athletes with at least a couple of our ITC kids holding AFL scholarships). Fortunately, our kids don't have the grounding in the sport that all your kids get.

I really struggled to rationalise Black being left out and while I didn't analyse the boys stats that closely, there was a play just before half-time (I think) where a player who shall remain nameless effectively handed you a six-point swing (passed up an open 3 pointer in rhythm for a penetration and subsequent turnover which was answered by a running halfway shot which was never going to miss to end the half). I think instead of going in down 9 you went in down 3 and I'm guessing feeling a whole lot better.

Black ran the show for 30 minutes a game for the team that ran second and missed out - I think he was unlucky. Incidentally, Cadee's averaging 33/6/5.5 in the NSBT in Newcastle this week and would have been very handy in Canberra last week.

[coachdb]

Gallaugher made a regulation 3 at the end of the half to make it just 6 after a real sucky first half. I think it came after a few ORs. The half court runner that we made was Viterbo at the end of the 3rd to put 7 up. Not sure what the play was before that, but we were on the break (I think we got a steal). Pity we were unable to use it to our advantage.

Compton will be amazing when he hits the weights - that is incredible! About 6'7" and mobile and strong, head down straight through everyone - as I said, we don't keep them longer than about 16 or 17 down here, so we find them really hard to defend as juniors.

Cadee would have made a bit of difference - we were happy to see he was not named.

Looking through the AIS thread, Jeromie Hill and Cameron Bairstow from QLD are on the way to the 'Tute.

Hill is about 6'7" or 6'8" (feel free to correct me) and an amazing athlete. Quick hands down low on defense, contests everything inside. Nice post move to a LH hook. Good strength and quickness inside. His speed troubled our guys in both games and he was the main reason we got 27 down in the pool game. The speed and quickness are tough to combat - he's exploded up to the hoop before the defenders can time their contest. His speed got him to many contests at the other end, then his strength gave him the ability to challenge everything right up to the level of the rim and above. We missed so much inside because of him. We also had alot of balls stripped on the way up.

Bairstow is maybe an inch taller, but more of a traditional big man - I think I saw he's a bit younger too(?). Slender with really nice LH touch out to 18 feet, nice moves inside and finishes well. His problem will be combatting the speed and strength that players like Hill and Compton bring. He missed a couple of games during the tourney, but was very efficient in the bronze medal game (13 points on 4/4 FG). He will need to toughen up a lot. Banging up against guys like Brock Motum. Cody Ellis and Jeromie Hill (not sure of the other bigs at the AIS) will be good for him.

[roadie]

Cadee was selected but withdrew with injury (he was actually injured at the trials but was picked anyway) and wasn't ready till now and unable to participate in the team's preparations.