Pip Johnston brings the ball up. Photo supplied.Brian Kerr offers his thoughts on the final night of pool play in Men’s A Grade basketball action on Wednesday night at the Oxford Street Stadium.

The final two games of the final round were played at Oxford Street on Wednesday night.

They determined the final standings for the beginning of the semi-finals to start next week, culminating in the final to be played on September 23.

The first game was between Nomads and the improving Wildlife team.

It was Nomads who started fastest out of the blocks as they got out to a 7-0 lead.

Wildlife finally managed to get themselves sorted as they took a slender 15-14 lead in a scrappy first quarter.

Nomads started off well again as they were able to find holes in the Wildlife defence, pushing the score out to double figures.

Wildlife began to find their range from outside to draw themselves closer and only trail 37-30 at the break.

The third quarter was a better start for Wildlife, as they chipped away at the lead whilst Nomads took time to resettle.

It was another scrappy, low-scoring quarter but more importantly for Wildlife, they only were only three points down at 48-45 at the end of the quarter.

The fourth quarter was where Wildlife made their run as they went on a 0-3 run to claim back the lead 54-51.

A timeout by Nomads stopped the rot, then an absorbing last few minutes were played out as they battled it out, working hard to take the victory.

It was Wildlife that made a couple of big plays by taking the ball strongly to the hoop, and in turn were able to maintain the lead finally taking out the match 65-60 in a lphysical encounter.

For Wildlife it was Emiliano Guerra leading the way with 21 points with another good display. He was hard to stop on the drive and was able to drop the shot when it was needed.

Xavier Bartlett was good all-round as he netted 15 points.

Liam O’Connor continued on his good form with 12 points and Sean Hunter contributed 11, including a couple of big plays late in the fourth quarter.

For Nomads, Kody Stuthridge had a good return with 25 points, while Tony Gilbert worked hard for his 11 points.

The next game was a top-of-the-table clash between Newlands and MSA Team Donkey.

It started pretty evenly until Team Donkey’s transition from defence to offence caught out the lax Newlands defence to take a 21-12 lead. A timeout was required to rectify this, and Newlands trailed 29-23 at the end of the first quarter.

Newlands started the second quarter well and started making inroads into the lead, however Team Donkey responded well and were able to maintain their six point margin at 52-46.

The third quarter started fairly evenly, however Team Donkey matching up defensively caused problems for Newlands as they struggled offensively.

On the flip side Team Donkey were able to find gaps in the Newlands defence, to extend their lead to 77-66.

The final quarter saw Team Donkey start positively stretching the lead out to 18 points with Newlands staring down the barrel of a blowout.

Then came the Newlands fightback, as they started breaking down the Team Donkey defence to get on a roll and draw the score back to six points.

It forced a timeout but still Newlands came back at them – back to a three-point difference.

Team Donkey were able to maintain their lead as Newlands pressed full court, however Team Donkey were able to absorb the pressure and held out to win 95-91 in a top game of basketball.

For Team Donkey, it was Pip Johnston back to his long-range best, scoring 38 points including eight three points, in a very good overall display.

He was backed up by the hardworking Cam Butler, who scored 32 points and was deadly inside the paint.

For Newlands, it was Ramil Ilumin leading the charge with 25 points.

He was good at both ends securing a number of boards, and at times Team Donkey found him hard to contain on the offensive end.

Randy Buenafe continued on his good form with 18 points, Marc Juntilla darting his way to 13 points and Marvin Agacer 11.

This game showed the danger of Johnston and giving him a hint of space from three-point range. When he got a sniff, he buried it.

A top match between the two top teams this season.

© The Ashburton Guardian - 4 September 2020