Around one thousand junior basketballers and families from the Southern areas of country South Australia and the Western Districts of Victoria will converge on Mount Gambier for the annual Mount Gambier Junior Basketball Tournament this weekend.

Basketball Mount Gambier is putting the finishing touches to its plans for the biggest event in the history of the Tournament. A record 92 teams will compete in 17 divisions across the age groups of Under 12, 14, 16 and 18 Boys and Girls.

A total of 213 games on 8 courts in the city are scheduled from 8:30 on Saturday morning through the afternoon and evening and then resume at 7:30 on Sunday morning. The Finals will conclude the Tournament on Sunday afternoon. The Schools of the city have given their wholehearted support to the local Association in making their facilities available for the weekend.

The City of Mount Gambier and a host of business houses have been fantastic in their sponsorship of this Tournament and countless hours have already been given by the dedicated volunteers of the basketball community in preparation for this huge weekend.

The highlight of the nominations is the magnificent continuing support of the Murray Bridge Association in organizing 13 teams to compete across the eight age groups. Murray Bridge has been a major and most successful competitor over many years.

Host Mount Gambier has 12 teams competing along with 9 from Millicent and 8 each from Eastern Hills, Portland and Bordertown. Another pleasing feature this year is the increase in numbers of nominations from Victorian Associations, Hamilton, Portland, Warrnambool, Casterton and newcomer Koroit.

There are 18 teams participating in the Under 16 Boys' and 14 in Under 18 Men's and Under 14 Boys'divisions.

Full canteen facilities will be available from the Stadium throughout the weekend.

Presentations will be made to Winning and Runner-up teams after respective grand finals and Coaches' Awards for grand final team members.