NBL Next Star Luke Paul <\/a>and Victoria Country’s Lucas Byrne are on a collision course for the Australian Under-18 Men’s Championship and more than likely the tournament MVP in Queensland this week.<\/p>\nThe Australian junior teammates are dominating the tournament, Byrne leading Victoria Country to a perfect 4-0 record and Paul, WA Metro, to a 3-1 record in Pool B.<\/p>\n
Victoria Country holds the head-to-head edge, beating WA Metro 94-85 in their Pool B clash Sunday, April 13.<\/p>\n
It sets up the 1st in Pool B and 2nd in Pool B scenario that the next time they meet would be in Sunday’s Gold Medal clash.<\/p>\n
Victoria Country \u2013\u00a0Lucas Byrne<\/p>\n
Tournament Performance: Primary scoring option with strong rebounding production, driving consistent offensive output.<\/p>\n
Points: 19.3 \u2502 Rebounds: 8.0 \u2502 Assists: 2.3 \u2502 Minutes: 21:43Western Australia Metro \u2013\u00a0Luke Paul<\/p>\n
Tournament Performance: Primary engine of the offence, combining scoring volume with playmaking and rebounding impact.<\/p>\n
Points: 20.3 \u2502 Rebounds: 7.0 \u2502 Assists: 4.7 \u2502 Minutes: 31:24Today \u2013 April 16, 2026 \u2013 Under-18 Men’s ScheduleNorthern Territory vs Queensland North (9AM)New South Wales Country vs Victoria Country (11AM)New South Wales Metro vs Queensland South (1PM)Western Australia Metro vs Australian Capital Territory (1PM)Tasmania vs South Australia Country (3PM)Victoria Metro vs Western Australia Country (5PM)South Australia Metro vs Northern Territory (5PM)Under-18 Men \u2014 Pool A ResultsApril 12, 2026Victoria Metro 92 def. Tasmania 51New South Wales Metro 92 def. South Australia Country 62Queensland South 106 def. Western Australia Country 74April 13, 2026Queensland South 85 def. Victoria Metro 79New South Wales Metro 107 def. Tasmania 59Western Australia Country 98 def. South Australia Country 65April 14, 2026Queensland South 93 def. Tasmania 66Victoria Metro 100 def. South Australia Country 55New South Wales Metro 91 def. Western Australia Country 65April 15, 2026Queensland South 100 def. South Australia Country 52Victoria Metro 99 def. New South Wales Metro 78Western Australia Country 89 def. Tasmania 62<\/p>\n
2026 Under-18 Men \u2013 Pool A<\/p>\n
Team
\n W
\n L
\n PCT
\n PF
\n PA
\n DIFF<\/p>\n
QLD South401.000384271+113
\n NSW Metro31.750368258+110
\n VIC Metro22.500370315+55
\n WA Country22.500326312+14
\n SA Country04.000234402-168
\n Tasmania04.000238324-86<\/p>\n
Under-18 Men \u2014 Pool B ResultsApril 12, 2026Western Australia Metro 97 def. South Australia Metro 88Victoria Country 94 def. Queensland North 78New South Wales Country 72 def. Australian Capital Territory 70Western Australia Metro 109 def. New South Wales Country 85Victoria Country 109 def. Northern Territory 47April 13, 2026Queensland North 78 def. Australian Capital Territory 62Victoria Country 94 def. Western Australia Metro 85New South Wales Country 88 def. Northern Territory 48South Australia Metro 102 def. Queensland North 71April 14, 2026Australian Capital Territory 108 def. Northern Territory 65South Australia Metro 85 def. New South Wales Country 59Western Australia Metro 97 def. Queensland North 71Victoria Country 93 def. Australian Capital Territory 49April 15, 2026Victoria Country 100 def. South Australia Metro 81Western Australia Metro 112 def. Northern Territory 50New South Wales Country 69 def. Queensland North 67South Australia Metro 101 def. Australian Capital Territory 64<\/p>\n
2026 Under-18 Men \u2013 Pool B<\/p>\n
Team
\n W
\n L
\n PCT
\n PF
\n PA
\n DIFF<\/p>\n
VIC Country401.000396259+137
\n WA Metro41.800415274+141
\n SA Metro32.600376330+46
\n NSW Country23.400373369+4
\n ACT14.200304356-52
\n QLD North14.200355402-47
\n NT04.000210379-169<\/p>\n
UNDER-18 MEN \u2014 FINALS FIXTURESFriday, April 17 \u2014 Quarter-Finals3PM \u2014 QF2: 1st Pool B vs 4th Pool A3PM \u2014 QF3: 2nd Pool A vs 3rd Pool B7PM \u2014 QF1: 1st Pool A vs 4th Pool B7PM \u2014 QF4: 2nd Pool B vs 3rd Pool ASaturday, April 18 \u2014 Semi-Finals3PM \u2014 SF1: Winner QF1 vs Winner QF45PM \u2014 SF2: Winner QF2 vs Winner QF3Sunday, April 19 \u2014 Finals Day12PM \u2014 \ud83e\udd49 Bronze Medal Game2PM \u2014 \ud83e\udd47 Gold Medal GameClassification (Men)7th\u201313th place games run across all three daysIncludes:Play-Off 5\/6 (Sunday 8AM)Play-Off 7\/8 (Saturday 7PM)Play-Off 9\/10 (Saturday 11AM)Play-Off 11 (Saturday 11AM)Play-Off 12\/13 (Saturday 7PM)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luke Paul and Lucas Byrne lead WA Metro and VIC Country toward potential U18 final showdown. Western Australia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-609244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}