Bruton’s brilliance shines at CoE

THE U19 FIBA World Cup saw the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence (BA CoE) lose a few of their troops for the NBL1 East Men’s, but in Round 11, it allowed another crop of players to shine, and that is exactly what happened with Rio Bruton in the win over the Hornsby KuRingGai Spiders.

The CoE is home to an immense amount of young talent, but plenty of players were called up to play for the Emu’s, giving another opportunity to more players at a professional level, with a hefty amount of young talent waiting in the wings.

Despite being undermanned, the CoE were simply too good for the Spiders at The Brickpit, winning three of the four quarters and showing why they are one of the title contenders with a hefty 14-point triumph on the road.

Of the new players to get a significant boost in court time, Bruton was the biggest standout for the group of youngsters, producing an outstanding offensive performance that has well and truly put him on the map.

Hornsby KuRingGai Spiders (76) def. by BA CoE (90)

Rio Bruton – 30 points, five rebounds, one assist, two steals

The performance of Bruton was one of the biggest positives of the match for the CoE, with the son of former NBL player and coach C.J. putting the team on his back offensively and putting together an emphatic scoring showing.

It took him a while to find his feet in the first quarter, not attempting a shot for the first four minutes of the match. Bruton got on the board with a standing three-pointer which found the bottom of the net, before getting involved defensively on the very next possession, with a steal that led to a Will Hamilton dunk. Bruton made his second three-pointer of the term to help the CoE build a 10-point lead before heading to the bench.

The second frame was where Bruton began to truly show some confidence in his scoring ability and prove a vital player in the context of the match. He was much more aggressive with ball in hand to open the second frame, and got involved at the charity stripe to kick things off. The guard nailed another two triples for the quarter, showing just how deadly he can be from behind the arc.

The third quarter saw a push from the Spiders, with the home side looking to make a push and cut the margin down to single digits. However, Burton was a steadying presence with his shotmaking, proving reliable again from the free throw line, as well as his long-range shooting with a fifth triple of the match, as well as a late layup to ensure the CoE remained in front.

Bruton’s scoring continued into the fourth quarter, putting more of an emphasis on two-point scoring to close out the match. He began the frame with back to back buckets inside the arc, one mid-range jumper and a dunk shortly after. After a short stint on the bench, he kept that trend rolling with another jumpshot from the elbow, before finishing his performance by converting truly at the free throw line.

Bruton ended the game with a team-high 30 points on an extremely efficient 9/15 shooting from the field, 5/7 shooting from behind the arc and a near-perfect 7/8 shooting from the charity stripe in a performance that has certainly caught the eye.

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