COE CLAIM SECOND STRAIGHT TITLE AT CANBERRA CLASSIC TOURNAMENT

Held at Belconnen Basketball Stadium between January 27-28, the CoE competed in the invitational men’s tournament while an international women’s, A-Grade men and women’s and a B-Grade men’s tournament were also run across the weekend.

The CoE were pitted against an NBA Global Academy team and representative Under-20 sides from ACT and NSW as well as teams from SEQ and St. George.

For the NBA Global Academy, the tournament provided an opportunity to come together before they compete in the Under-20 Australian Championships, beginning on February 7, where they will be participating for the first time ever.

Playing two games in the space of three hours to tip off proceedings at the Canberra Classic, the CoE easily took care of SEQ and the ACT to book a spot in the playoffs on Sunday where they faced St. George.

A 102-53 victory then set up a Grand Final against the NBA Global Academy and while they faced a tougher ask in their last contest, they prevailed again in a fourth straight win, 78-66.

Basketball ACT CEO Michael Haynes and Australian Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Patrick Hunt who has been involved in basketball for over 45 years at the AIS and CoE were on hand to present the team with the Championship in the perfect lead-in to the start of the scholarship year for the athletes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Team Lists for the 2018 Tradies Canberra Classic:

BA Centre of Excellence                                             NBA Global Academy
Kyle Bowen                                                                        Francisco Caffaro
Callum Dalton                                                                   Hunter Clarke
Alexander Ducas                                                               Francisco Farabello
Samson Froling                                                                 Anyang Garang
Daniel Grida                                                                      Aly Khalifa
Owen Hulland                                                                   Hyungjung Lee
Aiden Krause                                                                     Wani Swaka Lo Buluk
Josh Kunen                                                                        Jonathan Tchamwa
Isaiah Lee                                                                           Aashay Verma
Alexander Mudronja                                                        Kane Waters
Kody Stattman                                                                  Tamuri Wigness

The Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence (CoE) men have defended their Championship at the Tradies Canberra Classic over the weekend, starting 2018 in style with an undefeated tournament.