By Chris Angus

In a wonderful day on Sunday 14^th December the top 2 Senior All Star Boys & Senior All Star Girls converged with family & friends to Hisense Arena to square off in the State Championship Games prior to the Melbourne United v New Zealand Breakers NBL game.

There was a great atmosphere leading up to the games & throughout the day, it was such a great finale to McDonald’s Hoop Time 2014 & a once in a lifetime experience for those players who got to step out onto the main court!

After two very competitive games to decide our final State Champions of 2014, the kids sat back & enjoyed the big boys going at it in a thrilling encounter before getting a special meet & greet with United player Matt Hodgson & Chris Patton where they could get photos & signatures with the stars after the game.

Here is how each of the state championship finals unfolded yesterday. 

First up was the All Star Girls final between Rowville PS & Donburn PS.

It was a tight opening half as both teams took in the occasion & settled the nerves. It was Donburn PS who drew first blood with 2 made free throws from Tarni Brown. Despite numerous opportunities to score including 6 free throw attempts, Rowville just couldn’t get on the board. Doburn too seemed to struggle to get the baskets the conventional way, but with plenty of opportunities also from the free throw line, they slowly snuck away to a 4-point lead, before Angie De Gee finally got Rowville on the board with a made free throw. Which ended the half Donburn still in the lead 4-1.

The final 8 minutes saw the game open up a little bit more Taryne Vathakos got Donburn off to the perfect start with the opening basket to take it out to a game high 5 point lead. Up the other end it was Angie De Gee that was doing it all for the Rowville side to try & inspire the rest of her team mates & get them over the line. But they just couldn’t bridge the gap. Rowville never getting closer than 3 points throughout the final minutes & Donburn held on to seal a memorable win by 4 points.

It is Donburn PS first ever McDonald’s Hoop Time State title.

 

Donburn PS – 12 (T. Vathakos 4pts, S. Korakis 3pts, M Buszano 3pts, T. Brown 2pts)

Rowville PS – 8  (A. De Gee 6pts, E. Hastings 2 pts)

MVP: Taryne Vathakos (Donburn)

 

Next up was the All Star Boys final between St Luke’s PS Wantirna & St Gabriel’s PS Traralgon. After both teams settled into the game, it was St Luke’s that got going first through Zoe Jenkins who started in dominant fashion inside the paint scoring the opening 2 baskets of the game to take a 4-0 lead. But St Gabriel’s wouldn’t be denied and got on the board eventually through Christian D’Angelo. Str Gabriel’s started to stop the flow of ball getting into their opponents key & it seemed to dry up St Luke’s scoring options. Eventually through scores from Zac Bezzina & made free throws from Luis D’Angelo St Gabriel’s had hit the lead for the first time in the game late in the half. Eventually taking a handy 4-point lead into the half time break on the back of an 8-0 run in the last 5 minutes.

It all came down to this, St Luke’s were well & truly still in the game, but needed to come out & throw everything at their opponents to take the win.  It was a tight arm wrestle early in the half, but when Luis D’Angelo scored the opening points of the 2^nd half to take the margin out to a game high 6 point advantage, it was always going to take a special effort to reel them in. But St Luke’s never gave in & did throw everything into the final 8 minutes through Zoe Jenkins & Nathan Scarcella who did all they could to get St Luke’s back into the contest after they both scored 4 points each for the half. But whatever St Luke’s did, St Gabriel’s seemed to have an answer to. The team from Traralgon holding their opponents at arms length throughout the dying stages to seal the 4 point win, which marked great celebration on court.

It is St Gabriel’s PS Traralgon first ever McDonald’s Hoop Time State title.

 

St Gabriel’s PS – 16 (Z. Bezzina 4pts, L. D’Angelo 4pts, C. Kennedy 4pts, C. D’Angelo 2pts, J. Beechy-Danvers 2pts)

St Luke’s PS – 12 (Z. Jenkins 8pts, N. Scarcella 4pts)

MVP: Luis D’Angelo (St Gabriel’s)