Pip Johnston scored 27 points for Team Donkey on Wednesday night. Photo supplied..Brian Kerr offers his report on Men’s A Grade Basketball at the Oxford Street Stadium on Wednesday night.

The first game of the night was MSA Team Donkey against Nomads.

Team Donkey started well and grabbed a 9-0 lead early in the match. Nomads struggled for much of the quarter as Team Donkey eased to a 28-14 lead.

Nomads found themselves performing better at the start of the second quarter as their offence began to function, and they chipped away at the lead to draw the score back to 28 – 24.

A couple of quick transitions from defence to offence by MSA Team Donkey stopped the Nomads’ roll.

From there they got back on track and through some crisp passing and good fast breaks, they broke away from Nomads extending their lead back to 51- 32 at the break.

The second half was no different as MSA Team Donkey continued on their way.

Again, Nomads tried to work their combinations, but came up short as they just couldn’t get the ball in the basket with any consistency.

MSA Team Donkey eventually cruised to victory 99-73.

For MSA Team Donkey, the scoring was led by Pip Johnston with 27 points, and he controlled things well across the court.

Also, with 27 points was Cam Butler continuing on with his solid recent form.

Fotu Hala hit 20 points and Brad van der Eik, finding some shooting form, finished with 13 points.

For Nomads, Nick Ross led the way with 22 points whilst Kody Stuthridge netted himself 16 points.

The second game of the night saw Wildlife taking on College.

College matched up and their defence worked well as they were able to manage Wildlife’s offence well.

In the meantime, they worked their own offence well enough to take a 20-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The second was messy for both teams as they failed to convert scoring opportunities into points.

However, College began to fall off their defence a little, allowing Wildlife to grab the lead 32-30 at the halftime break.

The third quarter was again scrappy as Wildlife upped their defensive intensity.

College struggled again with their defence, especially their help defence.

This seemed to affect their offence as they struggled to make any sort of impression at the scoring end.

Wildlife pushing out the lead 52-43.

In the fourth quarter College went to full court man to man.

It paid instant dividends as they managed to restrict Wildlife’s scoring whilst managing to score with smart plays, and suddenly it was back to a one-point game 56- 55.

However, Wildlife reset and sped up their game, which spread the College defence, allowing one on ones to occur.

Within three minutes Wildlife had pushed the score back out to 10 points.

From there they controlled the quarter and shut College out, winning 82-62.

For Wildlife, it was Sean Hunter leading the way with 22 points.

He was a handful to defend, especially on the drive.

Liam O’Connor had a top game as he defended well and found his shooting range scoring 21 points.

Sam Pearce continued on his good form with 14 points with Jase O’Connor adding 13 points in a hard-working display.

For College, Kambell Stills scored 22 points in another good display with Riley Sa finishing the game with 11 points.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 21 August 2020