But the hosts were finally able to savour a pair of grand final wins in two of the final matches played in the annual tournament.

After a jam-packed three days of action at Bendgo Stadium, it was left to the Braves' third-tier under-18 team and their under-14 division two boys to fly the flag for the locals.

It was a close call for the under-18s, with the Braves overcoming YM Lakers Burrows 37-36 in a thrilling division two grand final late on Monday afternoon.

The Braves were led by Riley Johnstone-McCloud, who topped all players on court with 20 points.

He was well supported by Nicholas Sherriff, who chimed in with six points.

It was a fitting end to the tournament, after the Braves won all six of their qualifying matches and accounted for Sunbury's second-tier team 28-16 in the semi-finals.

They were one of three Braves teams to reach grand finals, with the under 14-division two boys defeating YM Lakers Clark 27-21, while the under-12 girls division one team came up short of victory against against Wodonga Wolves 9-16.

Max Connick led the way in the tournament decider with eight points for the second-tier under-14 boys team, which won all five of its qualifying round matches and three finals.

Connick was also the team's equal-leading scorer alongside Nicholas Harvey in a fighting semi-final win over Sunbury Jets, with both players contributing five points.

A stellar tournament for the under-12 girls included a 4-1 record through the qualifying rounds and a strong 23-12 semi-final win over Portland Coasters.

Wodonga was the only team to topple the Braves, beating them 17-10 in Sunday's qualifying round match, en route to finishing the tournament undefeated.

Considered strong chances of earning title honours, the Braves' top under-18 boys and girls teams both bowed out in the semi-finals.

The boys, coached by Ben McCauley, were beaten 26-45 by eventual champions YMCA, whose line-up comprised most of Geelong United's strong Victorian Junior Basketball League (VJBL) squad.

McCauley branded the semi-final loss as a 'good learning curve' for his team ahead of a key VJBL clash against McKinnon at Bentleigh this Friday.

"They (YMCA) were a really good team and were just far too good for us, it was as simple as that," he said.

"But it was a really good learning curve for our boys. I'm sure it will spark a response on Friday night against McKinnon."

Jacob Nihill was the Braves' top scorer in the semi-final with eight points.

A new-look under-18 girls squad, high on bottom-aged players, topped its pool, but fell victim to Portland Coasters 25-39 in their semi-final clash.

The division was won by Mildura Heat 43-33 over the Coasters.

Braves NBL1 women's coach Mark Alabakov, who took over the coaching reins from Bendigo's director of coaching and athlete development Joe Hurst as 'a one-off' for this tournament, believed the future was bright for the under-18s.

"For a very young group, their improvement was quite rapid from game-to-game," he said.

"I just tried to simplify some of their thinking, but as far as their structure goes with Joe, I was kind of learning on the fly, so I was trying to just be very general with them and offer things that would create habits for them beyond under-18s.

"Some of that revolved around their ability to learn quickly and their ability solve problems on the court through their communication skills.

"It was a great experience."

Speaking on behalf of the Bendigo Basketball Association, McCauley said the undoubted winners on the weekend were the hundreds of junior players, who got the chance to hit the court, after going without basketball for much of 2020.

"It's fantastic just seeing the kids back on the court and playing. They were all just smiling and playing,' he said.

"The hardest part of the weekend was making sure everyone sticked to the COVID guidelines so that we can keep playing."

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