TWO Southern Peninsula Sharks junior basketballers represented Victoria Country against the best athletes at the under-18 Australian Junior Championships at Werribee in late May.
Southern Peninsula Basketball Association general manager Ben White said Darcy Jones, in his second stint in the white uniform, came “ready to prove a point from day one as a leader in the young team”.
Corey Hastings debuted for Victorian Country in bottom age this year after also being selected in under-16s state team in 2020 when the nationals was cancelled due to COVID-19.
“Jones kicked off the week with a stunning 31 points, knocking down eight threes in 30 minutes to lead the team to a tough two-point win against NSW Country,” White said. “He finished the week with 14.86 points a game, 2.29 rebounds a game and 1.86 assists a game.”
Darcy Jones 
Corey Hastings
Across the whole competition, Jones was fourth in the number of threes hit during the week with 21 and the third highest free throw percentage shooter across the board.
“In Hastings’ first outing representing the state he defined himself as one of the strongest all-round guards,” White said. “He proved a danger in defence for the other teams while also cashing in 18 points against Queensland, 23 points against South Australia and 24 points against Northern Territory.”
White said Hastings had proved to be a “vital asset” to the team across the week. He finished with an average of 13 points a game, 2.29 rebounds a game, and one assist a game while shooting the ball at an elite 40.48 per cent.
Both players have developed through the Basketball Victoria Country and Southern Peninsula Pathways. They were selected from the Basketball Victoria Country under-14 skills days into the BVC under-14 academy program in both bottom and top age under-14.
In their under-16 years both progressed onto the Basketball Victoria state development program, proceeding onto the Southern Cross Challenge and the Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup before joining state teams.
Both are members of the Southern Peninsula Sharks senior representative program as part of its player pathway.
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 8 June 2021
