Microgaming Cavaliers 69 – 50 Celton Warriors
While probably out of the running for the title, Warriors had a chance to push for a solid second place finish but needed to find a way past a Cavs team that have looked shaky over the past few weeks. A miserably low scoring opening quarter saw both teams struggle, David Clark the sole bright spot for Cavaliers and David Dallimore pushing hard on the break for Warriors but the Cavs managed to rack up more fouls than baskets and found key players in foul trouble early. Paul Kilic picked up the pace in the second though and initiated a charge with a pair of deep threes and dominated the scoring before handing over to Sean Doyle. Cavs defence locked Warriors down and held them scoreless for the last five minutes of the quarter. Warriors needed a strong third quarter to get back into it and opened well with sharpshooter Chris Wolfendale nailing his first open three of the game but again the Cavs turned the defence up late on and shut Warriors out for the final four minutes. Warriors came out for the fourth in a man press to try and claw their way back into the game but despite Wayne Mears finding his touch and the Warriors racking up their highest scoring quarter, the Cavs matched them for basket and ran out winners.
LM Construction Phillies 68 – 44 Ron Smiths Turkeys
Phillies needed the win to keep them on track for the league title decider with Cavs in a fortnight; any slip up could settle it before then. Games between these two sides are always hotly contested but Turkeys were short on numbers and had no substitutes and this hurt them early in the game as Dominic Gribben picked up a nasty calf injury but had to play on. Despite this, Allan Walkingshaw dominated the inside in the first quarter and Turkeys took a slender lead into the second. Phillies went on a tear of their own in the second, Revi del Rosario and Luke Genenza hitting from all angles and they opened up a 10 point gap. Turkey’s hopes of a comeback in the second half were extinguished with a knee injury to Walkingshaw severely limiting his mobility, meaning that Turkeys were effectively playing 5v3 most of the time and the third quarter was a bit of a beating. Phillies eased off the pedal in the fourth but still won by a good margin. Turkeys will be rueing their lack of depth though as a full team would have made this much more interesting.
Pokerstars 60 – 46 Giants
In a battle of youth vs. experience, experience won out tonight but the thing about that equation is that while youth are going to get more experienced, the reverse is not true. In the first half of this game, there was nothing between the teams, Pokerstars relying heavily on the ball handling of Shaun McCurry and the inside game of big man tandem Chris Jonat and Eric Hibbs, while Giants looked to the smooth shooting of Craig Reid and David Beggs. Pokerstars opened up in the third though and Hibbs was devastating inside as he overpowered his smaller opponents. The pattern continued in the fourth and Pokerstars won the game but come next season, this fixture might swing the other way.
Buchanan and Pitts Slammers 56 – 45 Sinners
The final rotation in the ladies league got underway tonight between league leaders Buchanan and Pitts Slammers and Sinners. A fairly slow start for both sides, running patient offence with zone defence, allowed Cara Corlett of Sinners a couple of top of the key sitters in answer to opening baskets from Debbie Potter and Kat Keeling of Buchanan and Pitts Slammers. A top class defensive interception by Natalie Brennan for Slammers with a perfectly executed left hand lay up under pressure ended the first quarter with a slim 20-12 lead to Slammers. Coach Parker for Sinners, put his team to task with a man to man full court defence which forced turnovers and some nice points on the run for Wendy Owens, bringing the ball up quickly and followed in by Nikki Shimmin and Andi Craig. Slammers recovered eventually with smart coaching from Coach Gribben switching defensive strategy to allow Slammers stalwarts Emma Callow and Sarah Gribben to capitalise on fast breaks to sneak a few points in ably assisted with a great follow up cuts from Katrina Keeling. Facing the uphill struggle Sinners Sarah Corkish warmed up and added to their tally with outside shots, chasing for the win. Corkish partnered with Leanne Corlett on the ball running an overload offence and intense man to man. An all-round display of solid and experienced basketball for both teams saw Buchanan and Pitts Slammers take the win.
Saints vs. Fellas
Match was played as a friendly due to Saints unable to field a squad.
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