Vic Country earns Basketball Victoria under 16 championships gold medal tilt
WARRNAMBOOL REPRESENT: Seahawks juniors Dominic Occhipinti, Jay Rantall, Liam Herbert and Hayden Rhook are representing Vic Country at under-16 level. Picture: Amy Paton
A HAYDEN Rhook basket sealed a remarkable Vic Country comeback to put the Warrnambool-flavoured team into the Basketball Australia under 16 championships gold medal match.
Vic Country clawed its way back from a 17-point deficit halfway through the final term of their semi-final clash against Western Australia Metro at Kilsyth on Friday, winning 62-59.
Rhook, playing alongside Seahawks teammates Jay Rantall, Liam Herbert and Dominic Occhipinti, scored the match-winning layup with 11 seconds to play.
Warrnambool Seahawks junior co-ordinator Tim Rantall labelled the comeback “unbelievable”.
“We were 16 points down with 4.50 minutes to go and when the boys went with the full-court press and they got the turnovers,” he said.
“You could see once the press was on that it was a ‘take no prisoners’ attitude.”
Rantall said the reaction was “crazy”.
“Players were jumping around hugging everyone, players in the stands, friends,” he said.
“Everyone was ecstatic because they hadn’t seen too many comebacks like that.”
Vic Country took a three-point lead into quarter-time and extended it buffer to five at the main break before a third-quarter lapse.
Western Australia Metro skipped away on the back of a dominant 23-9 third term.
Rhook was the Seahawk contingent’s top-scorer with eight points and Herbert lived up to his vice-captaincy status, collecting four steals.
“Liam was in foul trouble so for him to pressure and chase the loose balls was a pretty dangerous game,” Rantall said.
Vic Country will play Vic Metro or Queensland North in the gold medal match on Saturday at 7pm.