The Mudgee Lakers under 14 boys are the BNSW Waratah Western Junior Basketball division two champions after defeating Orange Eagles 52-41 in the final at Griffith last Sunday.
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It was their second victory over Orange, having beaten them in the major semi-final on Saturday 40-30.
Although it was a tight match at times, the Lakers were always in control, emphasised by their ability to hold possession when necessary for long period, at one stage in the game by over two minutes - there is no shot clock in under 14s - completely frustrating their opponents.
Their defeat of Orange in the play offs came off a turn around of twenty points in both games compared to their defeat by the Eagles in both round games by ten points.
Mudgee's James Channon was the Most Valuable Player of the match, and also averaged 8.2 points a game.
However, leading the scoring for the Lakers and the overall D2 competition was Mudgee's James Gooley with 226 points at an average of 16.1 per game, the next best a Bathurst player with 178 points averaging 12.7.
With that sort of firepower coupled with outstanding teamwork, the Lakers were always going to be the team to beat once the semi-finals rolled around.
The under 16 division 1 boys team, after playing two outstanding games to reach the final, went down to a very good Leeton team 84-72, who had beaten hot favourites undefeated Dubbo in the major semi-final 59-53.
Yet to beat Dubbo, in the final, the Lakers set about changing the outcome of the round games, and in a concerted effort managed to almost shut down the Dubbo fast break, an area that Dubbo feasted on with gusto when opposition teams failed to see the danger.
The Lakers ahead 84-73 with three minutes remaining kept their composure to win 86-82.
With renewed confidence, the Lakers now set their sights on Leeton, who after defeating Dubbo, were probably the favourites to win.
There was very little between the teams in the first half, but somehow, the Lakers had managed to hit the front 40-35 at the long break, surprising their more fancied opponents.
But, Leeton had shown plenty of fight and expertise to defeat Dubbo, and in the third quarter fought back to only trail by one point at the final break, 54-55.
The final quarter started badly for the Lakers with their leading player, Lochie Doran fouled out, and taking advantage of this stroke of luck, Leeton gradually drew ahead, despite a desperate rear guard action from the Lakers, the final score favouring the Leeton Eagles 84-72.
Mudgee's leading scorers in the competition were, Logan Geddes with 315 averaging 21 per game in 6th, and Lochie Doran with 279 points averaging 18.6 in 9th.
Despite the loss in the final, it was a stellar weekend for the under 16 D1 Lakers, beating Narrandera for a second time in a very close game 98-95, and an even more satisfying defeat of Dubbo Rams, a team they lost to by considerable margins in the round games.
The under 16 division two boys team, who had improved dramatically over the course of the competition, were perhaps a little unlucky, going down to Bathurst Goldminers 48-40 in the minor semi-final - the last two round games only five points between them in favour of Bathurst - the Goldminers going on to play the eventual winners Young, in the final.
The Lakers were without a couple of their better players, which may have been the difference between winning and losing, considering they lost to Bathurst by only eight points.
The leading scorers for the Lakers, were Jason Meers 158 points at 12.1 per game, Tom Baggett 153 points at 11.7
All in all, it has been a terrific Western Junior League competition for the Mudgee Lakers, the first time to have three teams in semi-finals with two making the finals.
It was also the first time a Mudgee team played in a division one competition.
The teams now set their sights at winning their divisions at the Country Championships on the June long weekend.
