U14 stars fight to the end

AS disappointing as it was for the Townsville Heat to fall so agonisingly short of a podium finish, coach John O’farrell believes there is only one missing piece in his young basketball side – the belief they are good enough to contend with the best.

At the under-14 State Championships the boys from the North battled to a fourthplace finish, going down in the bronze medal match by two points. A pair of strong first-up wins over Rockhampton and Brisbane Capitals Gold set them up for a semi-final crack, only to be downed by the Spartans and Cairns. But it was the third place play-off comeback against Gold Coast (57-55), spearheaded by Braith Turner (16 points) and Noah Anderson (14 points) which best showed O’farrell the skill and resilience was within the group to rise through the ranks.

“I asked (the team) if anyone expected to be top four and they said no. I don’t think the guys know how good they are, they gave up points too early but then clawed it back,” O’farrell said. “I said to the kids after I don’t think anyone thought we would come back the way we did. I was very proud of those efforts.”