BASKETBALL
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
IT has been a long wait, but with their last roll of the dice for season 2014 the Bathurst Goldminers finally claimed a win in the men’s State League basketball competition as they overcame the Dubbo Rams 86-63 on Saturday night.
After 14 straight defeats – some heavy and some agonisingly close – the Goldminers finished on the right side of the scoresheet thanks to a dominant fourth quarter at the Bathurst Indoor Sports Stadium.
Goldminers captain Matt Chapman said he couldn’t be happier with the result after a game in which his side executed well.
“It was good to get the win for that bit of pride as well as the motivation for next season. We played a totally different style of basketball on Saturday night,” he said.
“We played more as a team and were less reliant on our individual skills. I think that shows by the fact that we had five players getting into double figures.”
The Goldminers were ahead 14-9 at the first change and enjoyed a comfortable lead at half-time before yet another below average third quarter saw the visiting Rams claw back the deficit.
At one stage Dubbo got themselves back within four points of the Goldminers, but a more cohesive final quarter got the home side a much sought after victory.
Chapman said performances like that win paint a bright picture for the team in the future.
“We’ll have most of this team back again for next year. Some guys obviously won’t be back, but it will be the first time in some quite a while that we can take a core group of players through to the next season,” he said.
“We were very competitive this season. We really made some teams earn their wins. It would have been nice to get a few more on the board. I had high hopes for this year with the starting roster that we had.
“Nearly every team that we’ve played this year has had season in and season out playing together. A lot of them have also had import players with former NBL experience. I think we did very well.”
BATHURST GOLDMINERS 86 (Will Ozolins 31, Nic Cranston 16, Trent Grantham 13) defeated DUBBO RAMS 63
