![Bulli High School basketball team that won the NSW Combined High Schools State Championships in Sutherland. Picture by Robert Peet Bulli High School basketball team that won the NSW Combined High Schools State Championships in Sutherland. Picture by Robert Peet](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/kZL4qV6yTxfrWZJxKQxjSN/0dfe89d5-6cc9-435f-be50-69a06fc960b8.jpg/r0_25_1600_925_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Not many expected Bulli High School to take out the NSW Combined High Schools State Championships in Sutherland. That didn't faze Steve Delaney's squad one bit.
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The win was no mean feat for the bunch of teens, beating all the premier basketball teams in the state in Westfield, Illawarra, Endeavour and Hunter Sports High Schools.
A state championship also means potential national title status for the Illawarra northern suburbs school team, set to be held in the Gold Coast in December.
The final against Westfield Sports High finished in the most dramatic of fashions, winning 68-66 with wild scenes on the buzzer, which you can watch below...
Both the team and coach Delaney have been on top of the world ever since the title win. Whilst being rank outsiders, Bulli's mentor said he was quietly confident his team could produce an upset.
"I know how hard we work and how disciplined the guys are," Delaney said.
"Whilst we might not have any of the supermarket talent kind of guys, we've got a lot of really good, solid players. Whilst always claiming underdog status, I did expect if we played our best that we would go on and win.
"We were down by 10 points early in the first quarter in the final. Probably a little bit of nerves and the occasion got to us. From there we played defence like our life depended on it, and every kid put their feet in the right spot, and their body on the line. From there we started hitting some key buckets."
Before hitting nationals later in the year, a large crop of the team will now tackle their next challenge... the HSC. Their coach Delaney predicted a bright future for a number of them.
"They're all excellent guys that are playing," he said.
"There's a few of my guys that balance being pretty good at school with the life of a semi professional basketballers. I've got no doubt if they wanted to go to a college or play at higher levels, there's probably a few coaches at schools in the States where they could probably make it."
Wollongong's Smiths Hill High also had a great performance at the tournament, taking out the bronze medal.