With talent such as the NBA Global Academy and the Illawarra Academy of Sport present, the Moss Vale Magic looked to start their 2019 off with a successful pre-season. 

The Magic competed at the Canberra Classic, in the A grade men’s pool. The basketball carnival was held at Belconnen Basketball Stadium in Canberra.

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Newly-appointed men’s youth league coach Mark Glenn said it was a great opportunity for the team to run its game plans at “game speed” and face the kind of competition they would come across in youth league.

“We finished equal third in our A Grade men’s pool. We played great competition in Canberra City, ANU, ACT and the under 18’s state squad,” he said.

“Out of the 10 teams we finished sixth. We only had eight players to start the tournament and that went down to seven as one of our players had another engagement. So seven players in that heat - they had to dig pretty deep.”

The weather brought on such intense heat that game restrictions were put in place to protect players.

The 10-minute quarters were reduced to eight minutes and a mandatory timeout was enforced for each quarter.  

“It was 44 degrees inside the stadium and it can affect team play,” Glenn said. 

“The first thing to go in the heat is the mind. When we were playing good, we were unbelievable, but when we were bad we had a bit of work to do. So the the aim is to bring the consistency up, but if we can play like we did when we played well, we’re going to have a good season.”

Point guard Carter Reeves and center Alex Davenport duel captained the league side in Canberra and have played together for 10 years.

They have a decade of chemistry and were looking to get the whole team involved in the gelling process. 

“As a team, I think we did really well against the competition. It’s pre-season, so the results don’t matter too much,” Reeves said. 

“It was a good for us to start gelling and get playing time together. Mark is a really switched on coach and I love playing under him. We’re really excited to be playing with him.”

Davenport enjoyed the responsibility of co-captaining his side and hopes the momentum continues over to the regular season. 

“We are a new team and it was our first time playing together. I think we played well as a team in pre-season. We played really good competition and as it goes, the better the competition the better you play,” Davenport said.

“We made mistakes like any new team would, but we did a lot of good things. We really clicked as a team - ball movement was great, we shared the ball and our defence was good.

“We’re a young side, but we have a lot of talent. Everyone is keen to play and wants to win.

“Compared to our last season, it’s already looking better. Everyone has the right mind set and we all want to play.”