IN one of the most dramatic finishes of the 2022 season to date, the Bendigo Braves were able to pull off an impressive final quarter comeback and draw with the Melbourne Tigers in Round 9 of the Victorian Junior Basketball League (VJBL) Under-18 Boys. The two sides went head to head at Bendigo Stadium on Friday night, in a game that didn’t have an overwhelming amount of hype coming in. Bendigo had been too inconsistent throughout the year, while Melbourne was coming off a pretty tough loss to the ladder-leaders last weekend. It was a pretty tense affair for much of the contest, but the Tigers were a step ahead for essentially all of the first three quarters of play. A nine-point lead at the first break essentially set the tone for the day from a Melbourne perspective. The margin sat at 12 points heading into the final term, and the visitors were well placed to cruise home for an easy victory. However, the Braves stormed home in the last 10 minutes, completely outperforming the opposition and making it extremely interesting in the final minute of the contest. In the end, no winner could be decided as the two sides played out a 68-all draw.

Bendigo Braves (68) drew Melbourne Tigers (68)

The Tigers got off to a pretty good start, jumping out to an early lead as the match began to play out as expected. Their shooting from around the court was proving a bit too much for the Braves defence, as Bendigo went into quarter-time down on the scoreboard and with a bit of work ahead. The second term was much more even, as the offence of the home side began to lift. However, the Braves could not slow down the scoring output of Melbourne, as the Tigers managed to extend the lead by one point when the main break rolled around.

Quarter number three was more of the same from both sides, with a pretty similar amount of scoring. Melbourne was able to keep the opposition at arms’ length for the third period, producing an answer for every Bendigo bucket. With a double-digit lead at the final change of play, it was looking good for the Tigers, who had shown throughout their 2022 campaign that they had the ability to close out games in style. However, they did not count on the Braves turning it on in the last quarter. Bendigo dominated the opposition, holding Melbourne to just seven points and erasing the deficit in pretty convincing fashion. After a couple of big buckets in the final minute, proceedings were tied up, but neither side could conjure a winning basket as they split the result. It was one of the more memorable finishes of the season, as Melbourne could not hold on to the lead despite a strong showing from Eitan Ben-Moyal.

The round also marked the end of the VC Ashe and Watson divisions, as the best sides enter the VC Championship, while those remaining are set to compete in the VC Reserve. As was the case with the first half of the year, the competition is set for nine rounds of play, as the quest for the title continues in each division.

VC Championship

Ballarat
Bulleen
Casey
Frankston
Geelong United
Keilor
Knox
Melbourne
Nunawading
Sandringham

VC Reserve

Bendigo
Camberwell
Dandenong
Diamond Valley
Eltham
Gippsland United
Kilsyth
McKinnon
Southern Peninsula
Wangaratta