Wildcats name strong men’s roster for 2009

The Parramatta Wildcats have named a strong sixteen-man squad for the 2009 Waratah Australian Basketball League (WABL) competition, led once again by the pairing of centre Goran Veg and small forward Anto Lalic. The men's program started to show signs of disarray in 2008 and the Wildcats only just crept into the playoffs, before bowing out in the quarter finals.

It appeared incoming head coach Dave Riemer would need to do some serious pruning to re-invigorate the program but voluntary player departures have given Riemer the opportunity to begin a new era without the need to sack long-serving players or take other such drastic action.

The incoming players are a blend of experience and youth, with sharp-shooter Adi Causevic (Norths), point guard Ing Lau (Hills), athletic power forward Terry Amir (Bankstown) and robust centre Richard Clarke (Hills) bringing strength to the Wildcats in many different positions on the team.

The younger generation includes a large number of players from the Wildcats Youth League program, led by shooting guard Michael White and Dejan Marjanovic, who both began to blend in nicely in the Wildcats roster late last year.

Photos: Anto Lalic, Bloeman-Woods, Goran Veg, John Hennessy - Action from the 2008 WABL season - photos by Noel Rowsell (www.photoexcellence.com.au)

Milos Prlic, Trent Awadallah, Jed Atherton and Mark Musgrave also hail from the Wildcats Youth League program, while John Hennessy and Andre Boykin will undoubtedly be the senior statesmen in the team.
The final pieces in the puzzle are forwards Charles Bloemen and Igor Bosnjak, who both lend an amazing flair for rebounding to an already athletic line-up of talent.

Bloemen had limited court time in 2008 due to injury but has already shown in the Wildcats recent All-Star game that he is ready to blossom in 2009. Bosnjak began his career as a representative player late in life but was the Wildcats 'Rookie of the Year' and leading rebounder in 2007. The enthusiastic power forward fell out of favour with head coach Terrance Rone in 2008, perhaps due to his limited knowledge of the game but certainly not for his intensity or willingness to give one hundred percent effort for the team.

Head coach Riemer has moved quickly to reinstate Bosnjak to the squad and expects big things from his ever-enthusiastic power forward. Riemer said "I believe we have a strong roster and will compete with anyone/everyone in the league (in 2009). With the luxury of having the Youth League Men at training (they get better every day), we always have enough (at training) to scrimmage and I can see improvement in all the guys. The recent additions of Ing (Lau) and Terry (Amir), who really looked awesome at our final hit-out, really fills out our roster and gives us a more experienced lineup".

“Plus Big Rich (Richard Clarke) has been showing up every Saturday and working his ass (sic) off. He (Clarke) and Hennessy are both coming off long breaks due to injury but both players should give us some good minutes as we allow them to progress at their pace".

Parramatta’s Kings School wins basketball shootout

Sydney’s secondary high schools have just finished competing in the Sydney Schools Shootout, which has been sponsored and run by the Sydney Spirit NBL franchise. The competition was run in two separate divisions, with fifteen schools entered in the Premier Division and thirteen schools in the Development Division.

PHOTOS: The winning teams from The Kings School Parramatta with the Ken Cole Perpetual Trophy (Premier Division) and St Lukes Grammar Dee Why with the Sydney Spirit Perpetual Trophy (Development Division) - photos courtesy of Noel Rowsell (www.photoexcellence.com.au)

The Kings School (Parramatta) was successful in the Premier Division, defeating Sydney Boys High School (Moore Park) 35-34 in a thrilling, intense grand final, thereby winning the Ken Cole Perpetual Trophy in its inaugural year. Cole of course is a former legendary Australian player and coach, who is now a regular international speaker on diabetes and lives in San Diego in the United States.

St Lukes Grammar (Dee Why) won the Development Division, with a similarly intense 29-24 win over Knox Grammar (Wahroonga), capturing the Sydney Spirit Perpetual Trophy in its inaugural year. The team trophies and Most Valuable Player awards for the tournament, in both divisions, were presented during the half-time break of the Sydney Spirit versus Gold Coast Blaze NBL game.

Spencer Llewellyn (Sydney Boys HS) won the MVP award for the tournament in the Premier Division, while AJ Dixon (Killarney Heights HS) won the MVP award in the Development Division. The referee award for the tournament was won by Logan Bilby (Sydney City Basketball Association)

Premier Division: Semi-Finals: The Kings School 34 def Newington College 30; Sydney Boys HS 51 def Scots College 38; Grand Final: The Kings School 35 def Sydney Boys HS 34

Development Division: Semi-Finals: St Lukes Grammar 45 def Killarney Heights HS 34; Knox Grammar 36 def St Augustines 32; Grand Final: St Lukes Grammar 29 def Knox Grammar 24.

The Kings School team and coaching staff are as follows: Matthew Andronicos, Peter Flint, Cale Strong, Chris Ingate, Matt Koura, Jared Lewthwaite, Kunashe Parwada, Chris Sheather, George Symons, Elton Tucker, coach Delmas Green, assistant coach Andrew Strong, managers Julianne Stanton, Jenny Pearce.

The competing schools in the two divisions were as follows:
PREMIER DIVISION: Shore North Sydney, Newington College Stanmore, Scots College Bellevue Hill, Knox Grammar Wahroonga, Cranbrook Bellevue Hill, Waverley College Bondi, St Aloysius College Milsons Pt, SCEGGS Redlands Mosman, Barker College Waitara, Oakhill College Castle Hill, St Andrews Cathedral School Sydney City, Sydney Boys High Kensington, The Kings School Parramatta, Trinity Grammar Summer Hill, Central Coast Grammar

DEVELOPMENT DIVISION: Shore North Sydney, Newington College Stanmore, St Augustines Brookvale, Knox Grammar Wahroonga, Trinity Grammar Summer Hill, Cranbrook Bellevue Hill, Waverley College Bondi, St Aloysius College Milsons Point, SCEGGS Redlands Mosman, Barker College Waitara, St Lukes Grammar Dee Why, St Andrews Cathedral School Sydney City, Killarney Heights High School, The Kings School Parramatta.

More basketball stories and photos can be found on http://parramatta.sportslive.com.au/index.pl?page=288

Doran scores century for Blacktown in junior representative cricket

In the Cawsey Shield (under 12) between Parramatta and Blacktown last weekend, Blacktown’s captain, J Doran led the way by scoring 115 not out in his team’s score of 8 for 190 off 50 overs. In reply Parramatta looked to have the game in hand at 4/137 but then Doran showed his all round skills by taking 3/23 to initiate a batting collapse. Two late order run outs meant that Parramatta were 9/187 at the end of the fifty overs to fall tantalisingly short of taking their second win in the four rounds.

In the under 13s (Gee Shield) of Cricket NSW’s Inter-Association Shields Parramatta maintained its unbeaten record with a last over win against Fairfield Liverpool. Fairfield Liverpool had scored 8/124 off its 50 overs and Parramatta was in early trouble losing its openers cheaply. The middle order of Newman (16), Willick (17, Kutukuff (37) and Robertson (22) led a fight back before a late innings collapse saw Parramatta in trouble again until last pair Mohammad and Moriatis saw Parramatta to victory in the 50th over at 9/125.

In the under 14s (Moore Shield) Parramatta is undefeated in Division 1 but needs to defeat Central Coast (also undefeated) in the last round to go through to the semi-finals next year. In another exciting game Parramatta’s Weblin Shield team (under 15s) dismissed Camden for 107 and seemed to have the game in the bag at 2/70 till a 7 wicket collapse. Opening bat Dopper (55 not out) together with number 11, Hackenberg (0 not out) got Parramatta to 9/109 to win the match.

In an outstanding performance for Blacktown’s Watson Shield team, B Golding took 5 wickets for 40 to help dismiss George’s River St George for 169.Unfortunately the Blacktown batsmen could not capitalise on his efforts and the team was dismissed for 117 to lose the match.

Other results and outstanding individual performances for local district representative teams in round 4 last weekend included:

Under 10 (Foster Shield):
Blacktown 9/205 (N Parvathaneni 33, B Rees-Patrick 66, V Singh 27) defeated Gladesville 9/144 (P Vasani 3/10).
Blacktown has now won two games from the four rounds. There is no Parramatta team in the competition.

Under 11 (Creak Shield):
Parramatta 3/83 (A Nair 27) defeated Fairfield Liverpool 82 (J Smith 3/10)
Blacktown 76 and 0/16 (J.Gauchi 21) lost to Central Coast 133 (R.Zecchin 3/22) 
Parramatta has now won 3 from 4 games while Blacktown has been unlucky not to pick up a win yet.

Under 12 (Cawsey Shield):
Parramatta 9/187 (A Roy 60, E Pitt 47, J Doran 3/23) lost to Blacktown 8/190 (J Doran 115)
Blacktown has won 3 and tied 1 game in the four rounds while Parramatta has one win from four.

Under 13 (Gee Shield):
Parramatta 9/125  (H Kutukoff 37) defeated Fairfield Liverpool 8/124
Blacktown 5/110 (J Hensman 25) lost to Central Coast 5/181 (J Miller 2/36)
Parramatta now has 4 from 4 and tops its division while Blacktown is yet to record a win.

Under 14 (Moore Shield):
Parramatta 103 defeated Canterbury Wests 59 (D Singh 4/15, A Ieroianni (3/5) and 1/10
Blacktown 147 (M Daniels 50) lost to Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hills 5/181 (M Hilder 2/15)
Parramatta now has four from four with Blacktown yet to record a win.

Under 15 (Weblin Shield):
Parramatta 9/109 (A Dopper 55 not out) defeated Camden 107 (A Khongwar 3/29)
Blacktown 3/91 (V Shirali 24) defeated Hawkesbury 89 (B Taylor 3/17, S Johnson 3/7)
Parramatta has won four matches while Blacktown has had two wins and a bye from the four rounds.

Under 16 (Watson Shield):
Parramatta 2/164 (G Joseph 35, K Milne 32, T Doonan 79) defeated Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hills 162 (T Ortiz 3/29)
Blacktown 117 (G Sandhu 38) lost to Georges River St George 169 (B Golding 5/40))
Parramatta has now won 3 from 4 and Blacktown has yet to register a win.

For more information on NSW Cricket’s Inter-Association Shields go to:  http://www.cricketnsw.com.au/shields/

Parramatta and Blacktown Junior Cricket information

For latest results on Parramatta Cricket go to: http://www.cricketnsw.com.au/pdca/

For latest points table for Blacktown junior cricket go to: http://www.cricketnsw.com.au/blkdca/AA/2008/Junior_Points_Table.xls

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