Josh Dent, Ethan Hager, Massimo Hobbs, Tex Keeble, Ben Lu and Harrison Iliffe will attend a number of training camps throughout the next few months before a final team is selected for July's Australian Junior Championships in Darwin. 

Keeble is hopeful having so many Illawarra players in the squad will ultimately help their chances of making the final team. 

“It’s really good having teammates there,” Keeble said. “As a team we can come together, we all know each other’s game and we can work together. 

“We all get along really well, we’ve been playing together for a while and we have good chemistry, so hopefully we can get as many people in as we can.”

The selections came as the Illawarra U16 boys side was sweeping aside its rivals at the Coastal Classic in Gosford a week ago. 

Taking on a number of the top Sydney teams, the Junior Hawks took out the tournament in undefeated fashion, defeating Blacktown in the final. 

“We won the Coastal Classic, beating Blacktown in the final, which was really good. We all stepped up and played our roles, which was really good. We all knew what we needed to do and executed very well.”

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The next few months will see the six boys attempt to secure a NSW Country berth while also helping to lead Illawarra through the Southern Junior League and NSW Country Championships in June. 

Given how much the boys love basketball, Keeble said they are looking forward to enjoying a busy six months of training and playing.

“I think we should be able to perform well at the Country Championships. We’ve also got the Southern Junior League, so hopefully we’ll play well there and we can make the finals. 

“Definitely one of our goals is to win the Country Championships, we’re all looking forward to that and hopefully doing our best there.”