Interservice in the basket
Volume 11, No. 53, October 05, 2006

Standing tall: Army men’s team after defeating Air Force 50-39 in interservice basketball. (Back row) Pte Shane Garling, Sgt Paul Scrutton, Sgt Lucas Telley, OCdt Jarrod Anderson, Pte Raffy Gautani (front row) OCdt Zach Looker, ACW Karen Herbert (Coach), OCdt Chris Dilger, OCdt Alex Lenart. P hoto by Flt-Lt Fiona Harris

A RESURGENT Army found fresh reserves to come from behind and beat Air Force 50-39 in the grand final of the 2006 ACT/Wagga interservice basketball competition on September 9-10 at the RAAF Base Wagga gymnasium.

In the most competitive tournament the region has seen, Combined Services men’s and women’s teams from Wagga competed against Navy, Army and Air Force teams from the ACT (including ADFA and RMC).

A dominant Air Force women’s team beat the Wagga women’s team 37-17 in their grand final.

Army men’s captain Sgt Lucas Telley was extremely impressed with the level of competition between all teams.

“All teams played extremely well, and that was reflected in the scores, as most games were even until the final few minutes,” Sgt Telley said.

“We honestly didn’t expect to be playing in the final, as we were the smallest and least experienced team there. But to the guys’ credit, we stuck it out and played as a unit with all players contributing.

“Throughout all the games, a different player would take the lead and inject himself into the game to get the team going.

“Sgt Paul Scrutton played exceptionally well against opposing big men who were much taller. OCdt’s Alex Lenart and Jared Anderson were constant contributors to the score sheet. Leading scorers for the men’s grand final were Sgt Telley (Army) with 19 points and Lac Tim Hatch (Air Force) with 15.

For the women, Flt-Lt Fiona Harris topscored for Air Force with 12 points while Lt Kristy Biggins was leading scorer for Wagga with four.

Individual players were also vying for selection in the ACT/Wagga Combined Services teams, which will compete in the National Combined Services Tournament at RAAF Base Townsville from December 2-9.

RAAF Base Wagga proved an excellent venue for what was a high-quality, hard-fought tournament and organisers were pleased with the increase in playing numbers from previous years.

Officials are confident that the high-standard competition should result in ACT/Wagga fielding two very competitive teams for the coming national titles.