The Rehoboth U18s Basketball team (Reho Wolfpack) are the 2017 Western Australia Baptist Basketball Association champions, after defeating Mount Pleasant Baptist 47-34 at Lakeside Recreation Centre on Saturday 16 September.
The Wolfpack headed into the game as underdogs after losing to Mount Pleasant 3 times during the season, including a blowout loss just 2 weeks ago in the preliminary finals. However, in the opening half the boys stamped their intent jumping out to a massive 34-12 lead.
Josh Rentenaar was crashing the boards hard, keeping the Mounties’ big men from getting second chance points, while Matvey Solovyov anchored the defence coming up with big blocks and defensive stops. Alistair Wong controlled the point guard position setting up his team mates in offense and hassling the opposing ball carrier to create turnovers.
Though the youngest player in the competition, and possibly the lightest, Brody Blennerhassett continually showed his basketball smarts, forcing the opposition into poor positions and getting his hands in every hustle play. The teams “imports” Jai Beacham and Valiant Pong had big scoring performances that the defence had no answers for. The Mounties made a run late in the game to draw within 10 points but the boys should their composure down the stretch, making their free throws and keeping control of the ball to run out 13 point winners.
Thank you to David Vurudandi for filling in throughout the season and to Mrs Blennerhassett for taking on the team manager duties. Finally, congratulations to the boys on the team not only for winning but for the way they represented the school and honoured God in all situations throughout the season.
