European Prospects

Australia comes to Hamburg with certainly one of their typical teams built around Australian Institute of Sports members. Unfortunately, we could not find a contributor from down under so that I had to go for a Preview on a team that I have never seen play. The article is mainly based on the Press Releases of the Australian Basketball Federation.

This tournament is the most significant event in the short careers of most of the team, but is a priceless experience for those young players who dream of playing for the Boomers in the future.

The Australian Men’s U17 side has suffered a narrow 74-70 loss to the QBL’s Gold Coast Goannas in an exciting encounter at the Southport School as a warm up for their tilt at the world titles this month.

The U17 team established an early lead but the Goannas went into the first break three points ahead, 22-19, and maintained a small lead for most of the game. To their credit, the U17s never let the game out of their reach; in the final three periods of the game the teams were separated by only one point, giving the Goannas the four-point win.

Daniel Carlin and Owen Odigie top-scored for the U17s with 14 and 11 points respectively, while Jarrod Fryar managed a game high five steals. Carlin’s physical presence at the ring was superb with six rebounds and two blocks.

Thanks to an extensive packing list, which ensured the teens brought everything from passports to Q-tips, the team departed without major incident — although the punctuality of some members left a little to be desired. Let’s hope their timing on the court in Hamburg is better than that off it!

After having arrived in Europe, the Australian U17 Men’s team narrowly lost two warm up games against Serbia ahead of the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship for Men which tips off on Friday. The Serbian team won the first game 66-55 in New Becej.

A 21-9 second term set up the win for Serbia. The hosts opened the game with a 22-17 lead at the first quarter and blew the margin out to 43-26. The Australians stage a fightback in the fourth quarter, winning the term 17-7 but the game was already out of reach.

The Aussies came closer in the second encounter, 63-57. Serbia pulled away for a small lead, 15-13 at the first break before the Australians fought back to take a 34-28 lead at halftime. But the host nation blitzed the visitors in the third term 23-6 and, despite winning the fourth quarter, the Australians couldn’t make up the margin, eventually falling by seven points.

On Monday, the Australians beat the U19 team of Bramfelder SV while the next night, they won against the U20 of SC Rist Wedel, another Hamburg based club and one of the ten biggest in Germany. Finally, they finished the warm-ups on the Wednesday with a match against Altrahlstedter MTV, a side based in the outer suburbs of the city.

Official Roster for Australia

Daniel Carlin – 2m02 – Center – 1993 – Central District Lions
Philip Chircu – 2m02 – Center – 1993
Ashley Constable – 1m85 – Guard – 1993 – SW Metro Pirates
Thomas Downie – 2m01 – Center – 1993
Andrija Dumovic – 2m05 – Center – 1993
Taylor Dyson – 1m92 – Guard – 1993
Jarrod Fryar – 1m92 – Guard – 1993
Samuel Gilmore – 2m00 – Forward – 1993
Daniel Hill – 1m73 – Guard – 1993 – SW Metro Pirates
Mitchel Norton – 1m83 – Guard – 1993
Owen Odigie – 1m95 – Forward – 1993 – AIS
Cory Richardson – 1m86 – Guard – 1993

All text are based on official Press Releases of http://www.basketball.net.au