Ross Kendall
The Byron Beez basketball team in collaboration with the U League hosted a 3×3 tournament at the Cavanbah centre at the end of January that attracted 30 teams.
They came from Lismore, Ballina, and Byron Bay to take part in the three-player game, and competed across five categories including U/14 mixed, U/16 boys, U/18 boys, open womens and open mens.
‘It was great to see the growth of 3×3 since the last tournament, both in increased team numbers and the players having a greater understanding of the 3×3 style of play. This led to some exciting basketball through the day,’ U League’s Ben Ireland said.
In the open men’s two Byron Bay-based teams competed for the top spot with ‘Doom’ narrowly defeating ‘Brews’ 21-17 in the final.
In the open women’s the ‘Ballina Breakers’ defeated ‘Beez’ in the final.
In the U/18 boys the ‘Rice Munchers’ (Bryon Bay) defeated ‘Ballina Slammers’ by two, 19-17, and in the U1/6 boys ‘Cookies & Kareem’ defeated ‘Magic’ (both from Byron) and in U/14s mixed the ‘Beasts’ defeated ‘The Lawn Mowers’.
‘The tournament was well-received by players, parents and supporters and we will be looking to hold other events in the region in the near future,’ Ben said.