Championship glory belongs to Melton, with the club claiming the Big V Basketball division 1 premiership.
The Thoroughbreds completed a clean sweep in their best-of-three finals series, defeating Latrobe City 87-80 on Saturday night.
The win caps off a remarkable finals campaign for Melton, which came from third on the ladder and went through the finals unbeaten.
Thoroughbreds coach Julie McCallum was full of praise for the effort her players showed.
“It was fantastic,” she said.
“I am so stoked for this group. When we play together and play as a team, we just go too deep for most opposition sides.
“I said to the boys going into the match that all the pressure was on Latrobe and we just needed to play our natural game.
“The guys did that so well.”
After trailing by one point at quarter-time, Melton took control. The Thoroughbreds dominated the second quarter, finding their range from both two and three-point range.
Melton went into half-time with a six-point lead, which proved too much for Latrobe to overcome.
Both sides enjoyed passages of play with the momentum in the second half but it was Melton on top when the game was at its tightest.
The Thoroughbreds were making the most of their chances from the field and also worked hard on defence to hold on to the lead as the minutes ticked down.
Not relying on one particular player, the Thoroughbreds had scoring options all over the court, with Harris, Blake Allison, Jeff Crowe, Shane Moroney and Cameron McCallum all scoring double figures.
“No one stood out and I didn’t think we had a best player,” McCallum said.
“We just had everyone playing their roles.
“Even though we were up 1-0 in the series, we started again. We didn’t really talk about game one or game three. We treated the game as game one. All the pressure was on them and I just wanted the guys to enjoy it.”
Melton claimed a vital 1-0 lead with a 96-94 win in game one of the series.
With 45 points and 13 rebounds across the two games, Harris was named finals MVP.
While her side went into the post-season as underdogs, McCallum said she always had full confidence that their best would be good enough to match it with anyone.
“They’re a great bunch of guys to work with,” she said.
“Externally, we have had that underdog tag all year. Internally, we were always very confident in what we could achieve.
“I’m so proud of everything the guys have put in.
“They deserve this.”
