Year 7 Preseason at St Pius X
The Year 7’s played their last round in an ISA preseason tri-series against Redlands and St Pius X at Pius X Oxford falls campus. Saints Steelers started the day against St Pius. The boys got out to an early lead and never looked back. Strong defence and great shooting fuelled the boys to a 17-4 win. Our second game was against a tough Redlands team. Saints found themselves down double digits early but a late comeback, again spurred by defence, brought us back into the game which finished in a draw 23-23. Well done boys!
Saints Celtics played a tough first game against a very strong combined St Pius team, unfortunately going down 23-10 with a few turnovers being the factor in this game. Strong second game from Saints as they ended up defeating Redlands convincingly 41-7 with great teamwork and passing to the open player being the key factor to help in the win.
IPSHA
In IPSHA, we played Sydney Grammar away on their home court.
The Year 5’s played a great final game of the season. With the score close for all the first half, we took a slim lead into the second half. The second half starting much as the rest of the game, we took a timeout to reset. Several of the boys stepped up and took control of the game passing the ball more freely and looking for the open team mate. Team work in offence and more disciplined defence enabled the boys to be victorious. The boys should be proud of how they played and represented their school throughout the season. Final score 29-24.
The Year 6 team, needing a victory to claim the regular season title in the 17/18 IPSHA competition, travelled to Paddington to take on top team, Sydney Grammar in the season finale. The game did not start to plan, down 0-6 after 5 minutes, the pace was slow and scoring was proving very hard.
Grammar were on top of their defensive game and the coach was questioning the pre-game milkshake strategy. From then Tyler Hartman increased the pace and triggered a change in game momentum, scoring 7 of Saints first 9 points.
The team would go into the second half leading 12-11. Lucas Elbag was dominating the boards but had 3 fouls at the half and with Charlie Baker out injured, the game was hanging in the balance. The second half was a display of the team’s strengths. Joe Walsh and Kodie Janik scored 8 points to start the second half, using the motion offence to their advantage. Luke Murray and Niki Kania got multiple steals, Bailey Schoene was strong at the five position and Mitchell Will had a key basket down the stretch. The game finished with Rory Richards who had been struggling with his jump shot, hitting a corner 3 pointer to seal the Saints victory and IPSHA regular season premiership. Final score 26-16.
Emma Donnellan
TIC ISA Basketball
