Rasmussen, Ryan, Bayles receive Centre of Excellence scholarships

Canberra's Centre of Excellence announced three new scholarship holders today: Keanu Rasmussen, Patrick Ryan and Biwali Bayles.

Rasmussen, a 6'2 point guard from South Australia, is in the class of 2021, and averaged 16'8 points during the Australia Junior Championships (AJC). The Sturt Sabres guard led the tournament with a sizzling 48.9% rate at the three-point line.

"... As a player, [Rasmussen] brings elite shooting with great poise and decision making. Keanu’s diligence, work ethic and passion for basketball mean that he will only get better and better," CoE head coach Adam Caporn said.

Phillip Island forward, Patrick Ryan was named to the FIBA Under-17 Oceania Championship, to be held in Noumea, New Caledonia from 19-24 August. He averaged 16.4 points and 5 rebounds during the AJC.

"Patrick had a strong U18 AJC with Victoria Country and made strong contributions in three NBL1 games with the CoE this past season," Caporn shared. "Patrick is a competitive and talented offensive player with an array of skills, we expect him to improve rapidly in our daily training environment.”

New South Wales guard, Biwali Bayles will similarly be participating in the FIBA U17 Oceania Championship this year. The 6'2 point guard led the AJC in steals at 3.5 a game as well as assists (6.25), and was fifth in scoring averages (17.8 points).

“We are very excited about Biwali joining the program. Coming off an outstanding U18 AJC, Biwali has the ability to change games on both ends of the floor. He brings not only talent, but a competitive edge and work ethic that should enable him to truly find out how good he can be,” said Caporn.

Dyson Daniels, who is featured in the image, received a scholarship to the NBA Global Academy.