For a team that has only recently come together, the under 14 boys NSW Waratahs are playing a very impressive style of basketball.
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The Waratahs are on track to go through their pool games undefeated, after recording an 83-68 victory over the New Zealand Kea in the fourth round of the Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup.
This followed on from victories against the Tasmanian Parrots and the Victorian Goldminers yesterday.
“They’ve been playing well,” NSW coach Michael Cassidy said.
“It can be tough coming down here with a lot of the boys not having played together before, but they’ve been outstanding.
“Our focus has just been to get a bit better each game and improve on our previous match and they’ve certainly been doing that.
“We’ve got one more game, and I think we’ll finish first in our pool provided we get that win.”
Despite having a shorter team than the Kea, the Waratahs were able to put their opponents to the sword comfortably.
“New Zealand had some big bodies, there’s no doubt about that, but we had to focus,” Cassidy said.
“The boys did a really good job hitting the boards hard, and we had a really good defensive end.
“That’s what the difference was in the end.”
Lady Bandits coach James Ballinger is in charge of the Kea team and was happy with how his boys had played.
“It’s still a learning process for a lot of them, but it was really good,” Ballinger said.
“Sure results are nice, but at the end of the day I think they’re irrelevant.
“It’s really about improvement and setting the kids up on their pathway with New Zealand, and they’re certainly well on their way with that.
“It’s phenomenal to see how far they’ve come since they first met last Thursday.”