Pivot City have retained the Max Bowman Shield for the third year in a row at the Victorian Basketball Junior Country Club Championships which were held in Bendigo over the weekend.

The tournament attracts over 100 of the strongest club boy’s and girl’s teams from throughout Country Victoria with a point system for wins during the weekend and additional points for individual titles, which Pivot City won in the Under 18 girls and Under 16 boys divisions. Pivot City was also runner up in under 12 and 14 boys divisions.

The Under 16 boy’s grand final was the last game of the weekend and Pivot City needed a win over Maffra Bulls to bring the title and Shield home for Pivot City and it was a nail biter.

The Under 16 Boy’s game started with Maffra shooting the ball very well but Pivot was struggling for any real scoring avenue, the defence and energy of Peterson Kol kept Pivot in the game and with Harrison Hogan and Aaron Ruiz gradually getting on top of their opponents as the game progressed and saw Pivot lead by a point at half time. Cohen Blythe gave his all and with James McDonald, Kyle Meyer and Max Kos coming off the bench and hitting some huge baskets saw Pivot lead by four points with three minutes to go but Maffra hit back immediately which saw them lead by two points with only fifteen seconds left on the clock Pivot had a shot to draw the game but missed, the rebound was hunted down by Peterson Kol and his outlet pass found Jordan O’Leary who delivered the final blow with his three pointer to secure a one point win and the Max Bowman Shield for Pivot City.

The under 18 girls title was also memorable as it was the girls fourth attempt to win the title after losing three of the last four grand finals by less than 5 points. Coached by Stingrays star and former Supercats go to man Jason Reardon the girls lead the whole game against arch rivals Ballarat Exies and despite a frantic last 4 minutes of the game the girls hung tough to win by 13 points. This was an apt way to finish their junior playing careers top age players Bree Matthews, Lauren Moloney, Allison Marsh, Nicole Peacock and Rebecca Porte and a great base for the players with one more year in the tournament Shanae Bourke, Jenae Marks and Sarah Vanarend.