Brampton and Welland teams to represent Canada at Jr NBA World Championship

In the Canadian Finals of the Jr. NBA World Championship regional qualifiers, it was two clubs from the OBA who secured victory and advance to the World Championship in Orlando, August 7-12.

The first half of the double-header final saw the Welland Warriors U14 girls team hang on for a 56-53 victory over VK Basketball from Vancouver to win tournament gold with a final possession defensive stop. Defence was never the issue and applying it was their specialty.

“We practise it a lot. You get a turnover, ‘what do you do with it?’ You gotta get the ball up the court (with your) eyes up,” head coach Dave Picton said. “If we could make teams pay with a nice quick shot or layup, that allows you to break games open.”

Following the celebrations of the local team, whose fans made the roughly 15-minute drive to support their Warriors in full force, the Meridian Centre played host to the U14 boys final.

Brampton Breakdown came out strong and put the game away with a second-half run, using the depth and overall speed and athleticism on the larger court to their advantage with a final score of 72-56 over AthElite Basketball from Surrey, B.C.

“We got a large quantity of our points in transitional buckets and overall the kids really did what they needed to seize the moment,” head coach Kevin Cox said.

Ontario is proud to have hosted to qualifying tournament and thanks the efforts of NBA Canada and Canada Basketball to bring this opportunity to our youth clubs, and are especially proud to be represented on both the boys and girls side at the World Championship by two OBA teams!