SUMMER BASKETBALL MVP AWARDS

Highlights of the 2014/15 Summer South East Basketball League Most Valuable Players’ Count last Wednesday night were the one vote wins in both the Men’s and Women’s voting.

Panthers-Wizards on court leader, Chris Mason was the eventual winner in the Men’s summer competition, while State Under 18 player Brenna McKay won this prestigious women’s individual award on the last voting slip opened.

Simon Berkefeld was pre-count favourite as a result of his unbelievable past season MVP record. His win last winter season made it his fourteenth since stepping into senior ranks in the 2005/6 season.

The Men’s count developed into a close affair midway through the presentation when Lukass Blicavs, Mony Makuer, Kane deWit, Sam Stafford along with Simon Berkefeld and Chris Mason were prominent vote getters. After the holiday break Blicavs, deWit and Stafford only played a handful of games between them, thus opening the door for Mason, Berkefeld and Dellon Brown. Mason headed Berkefeld in the last minor round to claim the MVP Award with 23 votes to Berkefeld on 22. Blicavs remained on 18 votes to finish third, followed by Brown on 17.

Chris Mason has had an outstanding season this summer both in the SECBL as on court leader for Panthers-Wizards and as a key player in the CBL team. He is very much a team player, who regularly takes on the demanding role of containing opposition best players

State Under 18 player, Brad Rathjen had his stellar season recognised and scored 16 votes, which resulted in him being named the winner of the Bill Cook Memorial Trophy awarded to the junior scoring most votes in the senior count. Makuer finished one vote behind Rathjen on 15 votes.

Leading vote getters for each Club are as follows:

Bulldogs Simon Berkefeld 22, Josh Jenner 12.

Cougars Sam Stafford and Kane deWit each on 13.

Millicent Josh Murphy 10, Clint Gallio 8.

Panthers Dellon Brown 17, Jak Ryan and Teagan Brown each on 10.

Panthers-Wizards Chris Mason 23, Brad Rathjen 16.

Roos Lukass Blicavs 18, Mony Makuer 15.             

The pre-count favourite was difficult to predict in the Women’s SECBL count because several players had played key roles for their teams and there were several forfeits to Millicent during the season.

Panthers’ trio, Brianna Walters, Alycia Close and Kelly Lockwood along with Malinda Markiewicz did not play out the full season starting their tertiary studies in Adelaide earlier this year.

As the count drew to a conclusion three players were locked is a tussle for the Award; Rachael Hines of Roos along with Panthers’ pair Brianna Walters and Brenna McKay all on 18 votes. The decision came down to the last game of the season between Roos and Panthers. Walters was the longshot to make it four season MVP awards because she did not play in this game; her best result would have been a three way tie if the other two contenders did not record a vote. As it turned out Hines scored a third preference vote to be the brief leader on 19 but McKay was awarded the second preference and finished winner on 20 points. This result reflects the dominance of the talented junior basketballers in this competition. McKay continues to thrive on the challenges of competing at the top levels of junior basketball in the state and will have the opportunity to “strut her stuff” in the Under 18 national championships next month.

This meritorious win by McKay in her first year as an Under 18 state player, also gave her the Sally-Jane Allen/ Trisha Flett Trophy for the 2014/15 summer season. Hines was runner-up in both. It is interesting to note that Hines won the junior award from McKay last season.

Top vote getters for each Club are as follows:

Bulldogs Ebony McDiarmid 8.

Cougars Tenille Gray 12.

Millicent Alex Walker 9.

Panthers Brianna Walters 18.

Roos Rachael Hines 19.




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