Tasmania's Peter Willoughby in action against Victoria
VICTORIA continued to dominate on the second day of the Australian under-20 and Ivor Burge basketball championships being played at Launceston's Elphin Sports Centre.
After clean sweeping day one with six wins from six games, the Victorians finally lost yesterday _ but it took another Victorian team to stop the rot.
The Victoria Metro women's team in the Ivor Burge competition for players with an intellectual disability overcame Victoria Country 93-21.
Victoria Country went on to drop another game when its Ivor Burge men's side went down 78-84 to early pace-setters Queensland. Victoria Metro and South Australia share the lead in Pool B with two wins apiece.
The early lead in the Ivor Burge women's competition is shared between unbeaten sides New South Wales Country and Victoria Metro.
Tasmania's Ivor Burge teams have yet to taste victory, with the women's side losing to New South Wales Metro 20-67 and the men to Victoria Metro 49-110.
Bruce Stanley (17 points and eight rebounds) and Josh Cleary (12 points and 17 rebounds) led the way for the Tasmanian men while Christine Maynard stood out for the women with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Tournament media manager David Scott said Launceston has a long tradition of involvement in the hosting of national events dating back to 1954 and the inaugural under-18 men's championship.
Since then the city has staged the inaugural under-20 women's titles in 1981, the under-16 men's in '84, women's in '91, under-14 boys club championships in '94, girls in 2001 and the under-18 men's and women's championships in 2007.
The Tasmanian team at the last of those was captained by Hugh Greenwood who has since gone on to play for the Boomers, demonstrating the event's ability to unearth future senior internationals.
``This is the pathway to the top level,'' Scott said.
``These are the best players of their age in the country and almost without exception all our top international players of today have come through these tournaments and it is the same with the Ivor Burge teams.''
Scott also praised the Racecourse Crescent venue hosting the titles.
``It's good for this type of event. It's nice to have three courts effectively under one roof and there's a good bunch of volunteers without whom the event would not work.''
Matches continue today through to 9.30pm and through to the finals on Saturday.