Basketball Geelong's under 16 boys (1) entered the 2011 Nunawading Tournament, and with two players out injured we had able replacement fill-in players from the second side.

The boys played four games on Saturday, four more on Sunday and after two late nights and eight games ended up in a grand final game against home team favourites Nunawading on day three, to complete a big weekend of basketball, walking away with winners’ trophies in a nail biting two point game worthy of a VC final.

Game results are as follows:

Saturday morning our first game at Knox against Hawthorn resulted in a 32-all draw, however the boys knew they could play much better and needed to stay on top of their opponents and not let them in with a chance when they had a commanding lead.

Game two at Ringwood saw the boys up against Nunawading. We were in control of the game most of the way, and won an important, but close, match 39-35.

Game three mid-afternoon at Nunawading Stadium was against North’s from Sydney who stayed with us until about half time. However the boys closed them down after that to take the win 42-28.

Game four at 9.30pm had us play Doncaster at Vermont. The boys were too strong for a depleted Doncaster outfit, resting some starting players after a long day and the boys still managed to power home to a 67-32 win.

Sunday morning for game five we played Forestville at Waverley Stadium. They were no match for our boys as we took an opportunity to again rest our starting five and still win the game 64-27.

Game six at Ringwood against the Southern Tigers from S.A. looked to be going well, however the Tigers were tougher than expected and made a game of it. The Geelong boys won in the end 54-43 but the message was that no team could be taken lightly in this tournament.

Game seven back at Ringwood was a 6.10pm match against North Adelaide Rockets who had a good record and tried hard to stay with us. However, the boys played a solid game winning 61-38.

Game eight was another late game and a semi final at Knox Stadium against Doncaster. The boys were confident by this stage and needed little incentive to blow their opponents away 57-28, booking a grand final berth the next day.

The final was a 3.00pm affair against home team Nunawading Spectres on their home court and proved to be a game of momentum swings.

With one player unable to play due to illness and our head coach having to drive to Sydney for personal reasons the boys knew they had to start this game well.

The Geelong boys looked good early and led by 12 points only to see the lead taken away several times during a tough and hard fought final. The game went down to the wire, again after the Spectres came back from an 8 point deficit with only a few minutes left in the game.

The boys hung on in the end to a 2 point lead in a frantic finish that won the tournament for Geelong 36-34 and gave the boys a much needed confidence boost leading into the second half of the VC season by ending the tournament undefeated.

The Grand Final MVP was Geelong's George Blagojevic, who had a wonderful tournament supported well by his team mates, coaches and parents.