Great Season for Boys’ Basketball and Boy’s Tennis
Two AGSV Grand Finals were recently played, Boys’ Basketball on Friday 13 March and Boys’ Tennis on Saturday 14 March.
The Boys’ Basketball team played their hearts out but unfortunately could not hold out to an exceptional Marcellin team going down in the closing minutes 78- 73.
For the third year running Ivanhoe and Marcellin faced one another in the Grand Final. The game was tight early before Marcellin got out to a handy lead in the second quarter. Early in the third Ivanhoe rallied strongly. Led by the Kafitis \Debney combination around the basket and with support from long 3 point bombs from Moio and Bennet the game turned right around and Ivanhoe went into the last break with a 7 point lead.
However, Marcellin, being the quality side that they are, were always going to come again and that they did strongly. Ivanhoe held them for a bit. Another Bennett 3 pointer gave hope, but then the Marcellin big guns started hitting the mark and they finally overcame Ivanhoe`s gallant effort in the last minute of the game.
It is natural to be disappointed when you lose such a close encounter, but that disappointment should not in any way cloud the wonderful way in which the Ivanhoe boys represented their team and the School. The boys gave everything they could, taking nothing off the court and pushed a worthy champion to produce their absolute best to overcome them. It was certainly a game that displayed the highest qualities of AGSV sport and one that was most befitting of our Centenary Year.
The Tennis boys headed out to Peninsula to take on the undefeated favourites on their home court. The Ivanhoe team was a young side with half the team being in Years 7, 8 and 9 but their late-season form suggested they were a chance to cause a major upset. Early on in the encounter, this looked to be a real possibility. Early doubles wins by Ivanhoe provided a good start and tight contests were the order of the day. However, Peninsula carried an advantage from late doubles wins into the singles round; then built on this in the late singles games to win the premiership that their form during the season clearly suggested that they deserved.
The Ivanhoe Boys were gallant in defeat and really made their highly fancied opposition fight for their victory. Final Score Peninsula 11 (107) Ivanhoe 5 (76)
