The Gippsland United Division 1 men toppled a strong Whittlesea outfit to secure a place in the 2024 Big V Division 1 Grand Final.

On a night when the Gippsland faithful turned up (attendance of over 350 people) to GRISS, the team proved to be too strong offensively and defensively with contributions across the board leading to their best performance of the year.

With Jalin Wimberley getting into foul trouble in the first quarter, the rest of the squad showed out, giving RMIT something to think about with the different ways the team can score even without superstar import Jalin in the game.

The Grant Final v RMIT is a rematch of 2 weeks ago at the same venue (Eltham High School) in which RMIT came out strong, scoring 42 points in the first quarter and the game was over from there.

RMIT has been the team to beat all year and on the back of an MVP-worthy season from Steve Coffey will go into the game as the favourites but that’s exactly what GU want. Being the underdogs from Country Vic up against the Melbourne-based University powerhouse is the mentality the team has thrived on since joining the Big V competition.

With the larger goal of both teams to make the jump to the Championship division there is a little extra to play for Saturday night, with a sell-out crowd, the energy is likely to be loud and electric and even hostile toward both teams with Gippsland selling out their allocation with 135 supporters buy tickets.

The game can be live-streamed through the Basketball Victoria website and a special watch party is being held at the Traralgon Bowls Club.