After starting the 2015 with four straight away games, the Moss Vale Magic Youth League men's basketball team will return home this weekend.

The side will be back at Moss Vale Basketball Stadium against the Sydney Uni Spiders.

The match marks round seven of the NSW Waratah Youth League competition.

The Magic made a return to the Youth League competition in 2014 and enjoyed quite a successful season.

Moss Vale recorded eight wins and 10 losses last season.

The Magic just missed out on qualifying for the Youth League finals for the first time in the club's history.

Moss?Vale was edged out by just two points on a count back.

This will no doubt motivate the boys to qualify for the playoffs in July.

The Magic is fortunate to welcome back the majority of last year's squad for 2015.

The roster is headed by captain Nick Bizjak, who was the overall leading scorer in last year's competition.

He is supported by point guard Billy Campbell, power forward Dane Jensen, swingman Hayden Cook, centre Nick Gardiner and former Illawarra Hawks junior star Rhys Pryor.

Pryor has decided to return to the Magic after a strong debut for the club in 2014.

This year's team will also feature several local junior players who have worked their way up through the Magic's junior representative program.

These include Isaac Martin, Justin Sloggett and Mitchell Bancroft.

They were all wear the rookies tag this season together with development players Carter Reeves and Alex Davenport.

Reeves and Davenport both play in the Magic under-18s team.

Another promising player in is Michael Heyhorn, who has been named as a Youth League reserve.

Heyhorn would provide the team with depth should injuries become a factor.

Unfortunately for the Magic, the club will not have the services of last year's centre Pat Chaumont.

Chaumont is unable to play this year due to work commitments and will be sorely missed in 2015.

However, Moss Vale has been able to secure the services of big man Tyler Payne from the Central Coast Crusaders Club.

Payne, who stands at 208cm, will start for the Magic at centre.

He will provide the team with a real presence inside the paint this season.

Payne is a former Lismore Storm junior representative.

He came to the attention of NSW country basketball talent scouts in 2012 when he attended a NSW country basketball camp.

Payne was then selected in the NSW country explorers team which competed at the Australian Country Basketball Cup in 2013 against teams from New Zealand, South Australia and Victoria.

Later, he was recruited by former Sydney Kings and Wollongong Hawks NBL player Terry Johnson to move to the Central Coast.

Payne has impressed in early season matches for Moss Vale.?

He is averaging 18.5 points per game and looks forward to the opportunity of starting for the Magic.

Despite the tough draw, the Magic has started the season in reasonable shape with a 50 per cent win-loss record.

One of the side's losses was a 65-62 defeat to Sydney Uni Spiders.

Magic coaches Kevin Campbell and Ian Thorpe will work on ways to shut down Sydney Uni's star Nick Peters, who exploded for 33 points the last time these teams met.

Tipoff for the game tomorrow night is at 5pm at the Moss Vale Basketball Stadium.

By Kevin Campbell