Former Bathurst Goldminer Sam McCorkindale will play for the Sydney City Cobras on Saturday, as they take on the Western Sydney Vikings in the grand final of the Ultimate Basketball League.
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The Cobras will be going for three straight grand final victories when they walk out onto the court at the Auburn Basketball Centre.
McCorkindale is looking forward to the match.
“It’ll be a tough game and they [Vikings] have a few veteran players, so they’ll have plenty of mentality when the going gets tough,” he said.
“The first time we played them, it didn’t really count because they only had four players on the court.”
McCorkindale pointed towards his team’s bond to why the Cobras have been so successful this season.
“We’re really good friends on and off the court. We share the ball a lot and we’ve grown up playing with each other,” he said.
“A lot of us also play together on the same team [Hills Hornets] in the Waratah League.”
The Cobras dominated the regular season, managing a 14-2 record on their way to the minor premiership.
The Cobras beat the Vikings in the semi-finals 96-83 on February 4, as the Cobras took the record against the Vikings for the season to 3-0.
The Vikings downed the Sydney Warriors 99-87 in the preliminary final to set up a semi-final rematch.
McCorkindale said the grand final will be a big occasion for him.
“It’s going to be really cool and the first time for me that my team will be going for a three peat,” he said.
“Two years ago, a lot of the current Vikings players played for Obilic [who no longer play in the competition] and we played them in the grand final.”
McCorkindale praised the competition, saying it has been good to play during the summer and to keep fit for the Waratah League.
He currently sits third on the rebounds leader board, averaging 14.33 a game.
McCorkindale’s teammate, David Hayman, leads the way in the Cobras’ point scoring, averaging 22.1 a game.
The former Goldminer featured in the team that defeated the Parramatta Wildcats 80-78 in last year’s decider.
After the previous two seasons having $10,000 on the line for the winning team, this season will see a handy $15,000 go towards the victorious team on the day.
The Ultimate Basketball League is organised by the Auburn Basketball Centre, as a way of bringing more of the sport to the Sydney region and to create more opportunity for players to play top-level basketball.
The game is expected to tip off at 4pm on February 18.
