Albany chase more history

Albany Basketball Association has named a strong men’s senior team as they look to add more title glory to their already rich history at the Basketball WA Senior Country Championships in Perth this weekend. Albany’s top men’s team have dominated championship division in the past 14 years, as they begin their quest for a ninth title in that period on Saturday at the Bendat Basketball Centre. It will be a new-look side for the Raiders, with only Keanu Weeden and John Santia remaining from their team that lost last year’s grand final to Bunbury. Albany won five straight titles in 2011-2015 and then defeated Bunbury by four points in 2018 and they will look to add to their outstanding championship division record this weekend opposed to Mandurah, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie and Bunbury. Prolific scorer Luke McGuire is a massive inclusion with dynamic twins Henry and Henrick Alforque to complement tall pair Kalin Lane and Kye Griffiths. Men’s senior coach Grant Smith expected his side to be very competitive. “We have a very young team but still a lot of experience so I’m hopeful we can go one better than last year,” he said. “We will just take one game at a time and see how we go but I’m confident with my squad. “With a young team we will make mistakes it’s just how we recover, if we dwell on them it will hurt us but if we move on we will go OK.” Kyle Smith will be a key outside shooter while Ezra Marques also makes his debut at tournament where Albany face Mandurah and Geraldton in Saturday’s opening games. “I think we are a very well balanced side, we have some young bigs and some serious threats outside,” Smith said. “Hopefully, the bigs play their role and work with our outside shooters. “Our defence will determine a lot of our results on the weekend.” Albany will also take away men’s teams in division 2 and division four team plus a veterans outfit. ABA men’s championship division Keanu Weeden - Kalin Lane Kyle Smith - Kye Griffiths Henry Alforque - Henrick Alforque John Santia - Luke McGuire Ezra Marques