It was the 23rd Australian Marist Basketball Championship at the Gold Coast on April 22^nd -27^th, with the 2012 John Therry Senior Boys Basketball team cementing their place among the very best on the national stage. They finished in fifth place in the Championship Division, finishing above all schools from Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania, which was the best result ever from a Macarthur team achieved in these Championships.

Over the entire week, the team only lost one game against St. Joseph’s Hunters Hill in the Quarter Finals. When we played, it was not about being better than someone else; it's about being better than we were the day before. They demonstrated this on the last day defeating the teams that came second and third last year: Hamilton and Perth. To defeat Perth, after being down all game, we scored 6 points in the final 20 seconds to win. These two wins against St. Francis Xavier Senior High Hamilton who were last year’s silver medalists in both this competition and the NSWCCC State Finals and last years Semi finalist Newman College Perth were game highlights. Other great experiences included the night out at Dreamworld and the day at Surfers Paradise at Skypoint.

The team consisted of Alexander Phipps, Adrian Cabrera, Charlie Ford, Jack Grady, Bruno Gerace, Josh Hickey, Jerome Isaacs, Andrew McGuiggan, and Nathan Van Etten. Adrian Cabrera was the tournament’s Most valuable Player from our school. Both Adrian and Alex scored over 100 points each. Each player in preparation played for the John Therry Catholic High Basketball Club in the local Campbelltown Basketball Association over the last seven months in the Under 21 competition, where they were undefeated Premiers. Thanks to Mr. Rustum Isaacs (former JT player, now parent) who gave up his time to come up with the team, contributing in all aspects of the team’s success. The boys were a credit to themselves and our school with the exemplary behavior and achievements!

Mr. Peters

(Coach)