Basketball | Knox Invitational 2022
Another Trinity Basketball season is upon us, with all boys being put through their paces as they compete for spots on teams at the end of Term 3. Trinity will take on Newington from the GPS this coming Saturday, with Trinity hosting the Opens and 8s, while the Year 10s and Year 8s will be over at Newington. The 1sts and 2nds have already played Newington early in the week with the 1sts going down by 25 points and the 2nds having a solid 14-point win. The Coaching Staff will assess their players as they finalise teams for the opening CAS round against Cranbrook next week.
Knox Invitational Tournament
After a two-year absence, Trinity were once again invited to take part in the 3rd Annual Knox Invitational Tournament featuring 1sts, 2nds and two Junior Divisions (Years 7, 8, 9) featuring ten Schools from CAS and GPS. After a physically demanding annual pre-season Camp, which included five practice sessions over three days, the boys were ready to see how they measure up against the other Independent schools.
1st V
A very young Trinity squad began the tournament well with a confidence-boosting win against Shore (42-39) which was the boys’ first game together. A sluggish start against Riverview saw the Greens fall behind, before a valiant fightback forcing the game to overtime. Trinity were able to get the edge and take the win by seven points (63-56). The third and final game of the day was against CAS rival, Knox. Trinity began well, taking an early lead on great defence. Fatigue hit the group in the second half and the boys went down (53-61) in a hard-fought match. For the second day of the Tournament, Trinity in their final pool game took on their third GPS School in Scots College. The boys didn’t play with the physicality or toughness required and were behind in double figures for most of the contest. A couple of runs had the Greens looking to get back in the match before errors on the defence end allowed Scots to take the match by eight points (44-52). With a ply-off game remaining, Trinity were matched with CAS favourites in a very tall St. Aloysius’ outfit. The Green with a point to prove jumped them early to take a 14-point lead. As in previous games in the Tournament lapses of concentration by Trinity allowed their opponents back in the contest. Aloy’s regained the momentum in the fourth quarter and proved too strong for the Greens (60-70) in an end-to-end contest.
Congratulations goes to Jesse Edwards who was named in the Knox Invitational All Star Five Team.
Tournament 1sts Squad:
Ollie Smith (11Ar), Sam Payne (11WJ0, Jesse Edwards (10WH), Noah Herden (10He), Liam Isaako (10WJ), Ollie Orr (10Ho), Henry Mansfield (10 Ke), Peter Tanevski (10WH), Myles Buvac (9WJ), Ethan Marten-Coney (9Ho), Bailey Macarthur (9WJ).
2nd V
The Seconds began the tournament with an extended squad following a tough training camp, where the boys put in hard work in preparation. Excited for their first outing, Trinity played very well to defeat Riverview 44-37. Knox was the next opponent and again the boys performed at a high level, which is a testament to the group’s depth, and defeated the tournament host in a close game, 41-38. In the final game for the day, the Greens looked to have the game in the bag against Scots before capitulating in the last quarter to give the GPS school the victory (46-49).
The boys didn’t let the tough loss in the previous day affect them as they came out and dominated Shore to record an impressive 29-point thumping (53-24). Unfortunately, in a count back, Trinity just missed out on the Championship game, but took that in their stride to claim third place in another good team performance, defeating Waverley by a point (51-50) to finish the Invitational on a positive note.
Tournament 2nds Squad:
Adam Taleb (11Mu), Sami Nasr (11Mu), Kyle Tran (11WH), Noah de Barros (111Ke), Denis Petrides (11Yo), Paris Karakikes (11He), Caleb Leao (10Mu), William Constanti (10La), Jamison Urch (10WH), Callum Campbell (10We), Matthew Nasr (10Mu) Christian Henriques (10He).
2023 Year 9/15s Tournament
In the opening game against Riverview, it was understandably a slow start due to the boys’ first game together and Coach Tsegay’s first game with this group and at Trinity. With this, rotations and substitutions were not in a rhythm and players in different positions learning new concepts; Trinity were very competitive and had their chances in a positive performance only going down by four points (37-41). The second game was played with much more cohesiveness and the boys found their stride in the second half, with Angus Mansfield leading the defence with his communication and Steven Lee being aggressive on offence as well as accountable defensively, resulting a solid win against Shore (42-27).
The next day against Knox, the Greens came out very flat and fatigued from the previous matches with a few injuries, preventing key guards from playing. The ‘bigs’ Christian Gregory and Cody Ramanauskas did very well in managing the rebounds and defence and keeping Trinity in the game but points were hard to come by with the boys taking a unfortunate loss (17-23). The fourth and final pool game, which would define the playoff outcome for the tournament, Trinity was hindered with a reduced team and Scots’ depth, not their ability, proved the difference with the boys suffering a close loss (23-28).
With the close loss Trinity had to back up immediately and play King’s in the play off game, and somehow the boys demonstrated great resilience and fight to defeat King’s in a close contest by just a single point (43-42) and finish the Invitational on a high.
Tournament Team:
James Borg (9He), Cody Ramanauskas (8Ke), Bailey Herden (8He), Angus Mansfield (8Ke), Brooklyn Virgo (8La), Malakai Sinisa (8We), Christian Gregory (8WH), Sam Rundle (8WJ), Dilan Petrides (8Yo), Steven Lee (8Ho) Coaches: Mr Sami Tsegay & Mr Luke Nichol
2023 Year 8/14s Tournament
Starting against Riverview the Greens’ nerves were apparent, as the boys struggled to seize momentum. Though, as the scores remained close, the second half was dominated by Joel Lim (7Yo) and Iziah Constanti (7La) who combined for 12 points, enabling Trinity to trounce Riverview 36-21. Against Shore, Sam De Alwis (7We) and Jacob Chong’s (7Hi) relentless defensive effort in the first half, resulted in Shore being held to just five points. This proved to be insurmountable as the Greens were victorious 29-18.
Day two of the Tournament saw Trinity take on CAS rival, Knox, in what was a tough contest. Alex Hu (WH) provided a much-needed spark through his ferocious defence, as did Thomas Ko (We) who notched some key defensive rebounds late in the game. Despite such efforts, the Greens would ultimately regret missing several open layups, as the game finished in a 22-22 draw. Trinity then played Scots, who would go on to win the tournament. The boys struggled to match the physicality and speed of their opponents, resulting in a 19-44 loss. However, the leadership and resilience of Zeke Kho (7Ar) who finished with a game high 11 points enabled the Greens to finish 2nd in their pool as Trinity edged Knox by a single differential point.
For their final game, Trinity faced Waverley to determine 3rd place. As the boys were quite fatigued, they trailed by six points at the half. Though vital defensive stops by David Fisterman (7WH) and Angus Cochrane (7WH) spurred the Greens to their best half of basketball in the tournament, Trinity secured 3rd place with a 36-29 victory.
Ben Morrissey | Director of Basketball
