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Navy
takes on RAAF in the mens competition of the NSW inter-service
basketball.
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The
2003 NSW Inter-service basketball competition was held at Randwick
barracks from August 6 - 8 in a fiercely contested battle.
The competition itself consisted of a double round robin between
the three services.
This was the 49th year inter-service competition has been held
in NSW with each service fielding a men’s and women’s
team this year. As always due to the work of organisers such as
Tassie Horvat, Peter Wade and Donna Edge it turned out to be a
very competitive and successful tournament.
In the men’s competition all sides were missing some key
players but this only resulted in levelling out the competition.
Navy was unfortunate to not win a game during the competition.
They led the Army at half time in their first game before going
down 56-41 and in both games against RAAF were in reach during
the last five minutes before falling behind in the dying stages,
50-41 and 51-43.
Army and RAAF fought a tough battle, with both their encounters
fiery. In the first game, the Army held a 13-point lead mid way
through the second half when Army’s two most experienced
players, Michael Wicks and Aaron Marsh were fouled out of the
game.
This left captain/coach Busta Robertson with a 10 inch height
and 30 kg weight advantage over the remaining Army players and
he was able to pull the RAAF back into the game and enjoy a 64-57
overtime victory.
The return match was the last mens game and the winner would take
out the competition. The lead continuously changed throughout
the game and at half time Army held onto a 1-point lead. Army
slowly extended their led towards the end of the second half and
held an 8-point advantage with five minutes remaining.
Busta Robertson again led by example and drained two three-pointers
from the corner and several foul shots to close the gap to two
points with two minutes left. However the experience of Army’s
Wicks and Marsh coupled with hard work on the offensive rebounds
by Dan Quigley, saw the Army home 65 -58 and take the title away
from the RAAF for the first time in 9 years.
The women’s competition was equally as close between RAAF
and Navy.
Army however struggled to field a team. Even though they had one
of the best female players in the ADF, Wendy Keogh, personnel
from Randwick barracks who had never played basketball before
were asked to play the day prior. In addition they lost Wendy
to injury early in their second game.
The remaining Army players continued to play with all the girls
contributing and improving throughout the competition.
The first game between RAAF and Navy women was competitive but
RAAF held a slender lead throughout the game.
Appleby, Budgen and Belleville all made big three-pointers for
Navy in the second half but RAAF led by Heather Edwards was able
to hold on and win 47-43.
The second game was equally as fiercely contested and probably
the most exciting game of the competition to watch.
Navy again made some big three-pointers and went to half time
with a 30-22 lead.
RAAF turned the game around early in the second half with some
good defence and, led by Meg Hurley, kept the score board ticking
over, closing the gap to two points in the last minutes of the
game.
Navy held on but had their hearts in their stomachs when RAAF
stole the ball with five seconds remaining and Heather Edwards
launched a desperate 3-pointer at the buzzer to try and steal
the game. The shot bounced off the ring and Navy won 44-42.
Due to the Army not being able to field a team in their last game,
this created an unfair result in the for and against points tally
to determine the overall winner.
Therefore the women’s trophy for 2003 was shared between
Navy and RAAF which is testament to their two hard fought encounters.
