A good weekend for the club - 6 wins 1 loss with 4 teams remaining undefeated ... which will definitely be 3 after the end of next Saturday with the A's and B's squaring off this weekend.
CHANGE OF STADIUM Week 3 - the games this weekend for the men are at Cedar and the ladies are at Marion Leisure Center (sounds leisurious) - it is on Oaklands Road in Marion. State Champs are on this weekend so Adelaide Arena has been booked. There will be a few change of venues this year - Hillcrest, Cedar, Marion and CBC.
That then said - Oakden B have pulled out of the competition - so that means that they are going to need to do a regrade this week. It looks like they might reduce A Grade to 6 teams and make the C Grade the B Grade and reduce that to 6 teams. The Women's A Grade will become 6 teams and 5 teams. This is going to have a massive flow on effect - so there might be a new schedule later in the week. I will have to let you know.
PUB NIGHT This Saturday May 17th @ The Seven Stars - with the A's and B's playing each other I think it is important to start the healing process straight away. So we are going to the Seven Stars for a few cleansing ales after the games and lots of hugs. At this stage the D's are at 4.20 and the C's are at 5.10. So I reckon we just say that people can come from 4.00pm and just know that we will be there. Hope that is cool.
To the reports:
A's (2-0) v Gateway A (1-1) - A Grand Final rematch that the A's were predicted to win by 6 according to the Gateway website. The Reds jumped out of the blocks - Phil had 10 points in the first 10 minutes, Corey hit a long 2 and hit Orks with a nice pass inside. Gateway hit some 3's and kept the lead at 10. Orks then took an elbow to the face and split his lip and the Horskins arrrived. With the addition of youth to Gateway's backcourt the game became a bit of a grind. Orks was scoring in the paint and Hobbs hit a long 2 and snuck inside on a nice baseline cut. Reds up 27-14. The 2nd half Joel Horskin was on fire - hitting tough 3's all over the place but the Reds just kept Gateway at arms length all game - Hobbs hit a 3, Orks hit a tough hook in the lane, scored on a semi dunk on a nice dribble handoff, Jack scored back to back baskets and Phil made a bevvy of free throws. Every time Gateway came, the Reds were able to fend off an attack by getting scores. Orks capped it off with a massive dunk - I assume he was very happy - it was one of his best. Reds win 48-39 (they were outscored in the 2nd half 21-25 in the 2nd half). The bigs played well against Smith and Meyer holding them to a total of 2 points. Orks had 17, Phil 16 and Hobbs 8. Was not a great game but both teams are light years ahead of the rest of the competition.
This is what Gateway wrote "Prince Alfred start quickly became an 18-0 start and before you could blink - though it did take 8 minutes so if you take that long to blink, your eyes will likely dry out and you'll be blind before lunchtime - the game was over. From that point on though, the Thunder awoke from their slumber, aided significantly by the arrival of the Brothers Horskins who took time to get going but once they did, wow. From 18-0, the game turned into an arm wrestle, with only the occasional brilliance of Joel Horskins (20 points including a quartet of late triples that left the Thunder with hope) and the maroons' big man Orken, who played out of his freckle and completely outplayed the Thunder's big men. The margin narrowed to three points late in the game when a foulathon stretched the margin to nine points. Final score, Prince Alfred A 48 d Gateway 39 (J.Horskins 20, Penn 11, Gondolf 3). What did we learn? That Prince Alfred are far more prepared than Gateway, who played only their second game in seven months. Prince Alfred's bigs have it all over Gateway at the moment though you wouldn't want to tell Messrs Meyer, Sith, Smith and Stephenson that (best to let the bear sleep). And Gateway are sorely missing their injured guard duo of McKinnon and Vucetic, who are still a few weeks away.
B's (2-0) v SPOC B (0-2) - This was the first time the B's were playing Saints B in a SACBA game since 2009. Saints were very short and very young (surely a Flair joke could go in here). Saints had 6 guards and a forward. Palky had the grumpy underpants on from the start, Mike was 10 minutes late so we only had 5 to start and someone took it upon himself to shoot layups during his opening chat to the boys*. In the opening the ball guys* weren't moving to the open shooters (which happened to be Palky ... so that made him even grumpier). It was a slow start - Palk did hit a 3 when he managed to get the ball, Jono was getting to the line and Angus scored inside. The B's were playing 3-2 and were just trying to stop the Saints 3's. It was 6-6 by the time Mike rocked up. This changed the tempo of the game - Mike controlled the team a bit more and we moved Jono to the fouline in the Saints 3-2 zone. It paid off straight away with Jono hitting Angus on a baseline cut with an awesome pass. Phill and Tomo were all over the O Glass, Mike hit a 3 and Reds up 17-8. The A's were on the bench watching our game - they said "if you play this next week we will beat you by 40". They weren't wrong. The 2nd half was a lot better - we were moving the ball, Palky's grumpiness was subsiding - but still way too many dumb turnovers and forced shots (the thing that will kill you in amatuer basketball). Jono was proving tough to stop - he was able to get the basket at will and either score or get to the line. Tomo and Phil were attacking the glass hard and getting us second shots. Best passage of play for the game was when the ball went through all sets of hands - Angus cut basline, got the ball, flicked it to Jono fouline and then went for the jumper and saw Phill low for an easy two. We played Saints pretty well - they hit some tough baskets, Cane hit some silly shots and were still pushing but they were too short and were a bit outmatched. Phill got a massive block at the end - twas awesome. Reds won 37-22. Jono had 9, Tomo 8 and Mike and Angus 6. By the end Palky was less grumpy.
*This will be a ongoing trend throughout the year ... when you see the "*" you know that I am referring to one person in particular ... but I shall not tell you who. It is my Carly Simon moment. This is all in jest of course and not malicious. YOUTH - If you don't know who Carly Simon is and you don't know what I am talking about you can go here and learn something.
C's (1-1) v Unley Park A - Written by G - Round 2 we were up against Unley Park A in a Grand Final Rematch. They had their full team and we were missing Brad and Krantz. The game started out well with the Cs getting plenty of good looks but not getting anything to drop outside the key, with the big men (Hendo and Goody) able to score inside, keeping us somewhat close. Our defense was good, tight on their main scorers, with a few turnovers giving them some easy buckets. At half time we were down 12-19. With a view to keep taking the rights shots and get a bit more movement on offense we started the second half really well pulling within 3 (20-23). Then the wheels fell off. A few bad calls and some crazy turn arounds from their 21 saw them get the lead back out to 13. 5/14 from the line did help our cause either, with the other team going 15/24. Plenty of areas to improve on going forward, but there were definitely signs of some good basketball to come from the C's. Top scorers were Goody with 9, Hendo with 8 and G with 6.
D's (2-0) v Southwest A (0-2) - Written by Simon - Looking for another player to add to our 6, Palk’s scouting report said we’d be fine. A team of surprisingly tall and possibly athletic looking players strolled over - a decent sized centre, 2 or 3 utility sized players and a couple of guards. It’s fair to say we thought Palk’s judgment was as impaired as this guy’s. Interestingly, there were 4 Western brothers in the Southwest team, but no Southern. Misleading. Much like these ugly things. Moorfoot had an aggressive start to the game, driving the ball from the tip – and worked hard all game for us on the break and on the glass. The game was a little scrappy to start, Southwest starting in a man, but after a few minutes we started to expose their D and worked out their offence was all focused on passing to the centre at the foul line and him either shooting or hitting the 45 again. With Jon proving too big for him to overpower and him even getting outrebounded by Reggie (once), it wasn’t going to plan and we started to get our hands on the ball and run. They switched to a Swiss cheese style zone but it didn’t help. Brendon and Ned were particularly active on our way to a 25-6 first half demolition, Ned hitting a 3 to help their D worry about our outside game, helping him & Stu to drive. Brendon with a big first half and 9 points. Much like last week, we continued the pain for Southwest in 2nd half, sharing our scoring while allowing only 2 of their players to score. Our player and ball movement was good, but 9 from 16 at the stripe gives us something to work on (special mentions to Road Train with 3/4 and Stu 2/2). Ned dropped 7 in the 2nd on the way to 12 for the game, Brendon 11 & Reggie 6. Final score was 41-11. Big thanks to Loz for scoring.
Despite appearances, and much to the annoyance of our boys, Southwest took both time-outs but not quite sure what they were talking about as not much changed. Not to take anything away from our effort though, with a shared workload – and we played some smart ball to work out their game plan early and then beat it. Good job.
E's (1-1) v SPOC C - Written by Rough - Black and white in comparison to last week, E's had a good game on Sat against a much better team. Saints 3-2 defence was lacking strength in the middle, with baseline drives by Max and Fooey to feed the big guys cutting through the centre working a treat. The 3-2 defence did generate unforced errors around the top of the key - fast breaks and high % freethrows were the only things keeping Saints in the game. E's defence was solid, and despite a late charge by Saints, E's kept control and carried through for a sound win. Bubs and Brad did a great job around the boards, also racking up 11 and 8 respectively. E's also enjoying the addition of Pritch and Fooey for some shooting range. Win 36-30. Bubs had 11, Max 8 and Brad 8.
F's (1-0) v St Peters A - Written by Phil - It was a new look F’s who kicked off the season in the shadow of last year’s 18-0 run. With a large swag of 2013’s champs moving up grades it was left to a bunch of new players and a few seasoned veterans to fly the flag and defend the undefeated run. As such, welcome to the club Ben “Bjork” Orken, Tone Trinh, Toma Luljguraj and Dillon Haydon (filling in from the “Gs”) and welcome back to Saturday ball club legends Matt Trim and Mark “Lenny” Waters. And what a return to Saturday ball it was. The game commenced 8 minutes late in an over-officiated score bench blunder, the positives of which were we got 5 vital points and spectators could watch 8 minutes less of a terrible matchup. The St Peter’s lads were competitive enough but we soon learnt our best defensive structure was to let them throw bricks and mop up the boards, rush through offense and, as it turned out, do much the same at our end. Highlights in the first half were few and far between but we still managed a 12-8 lead with the St Peter’s scorers being out top offensive player with 5. Trimmy hit a sweet jumper on his second attempt, a great sign of things to come, and Hansolo finished a nice 3 point play on the break.The second half threw up more of the same although our defense improved as St Peters shooting, incredibly, became more diabolical. Bjork had a huge half on the boards and ran the break with vigor, yours truly took out a few defenders with the old dread-flick-to-the-eye move and Dillon maintained his cool demeanor in offence with some great passing inside. With 1:30 on the clock we held a 7 point lead, cut to 3 points after a 4 point play by their #6 on an horrific bank and success at the line. We hit one our end, they hit one at theirs and thank Christ the game was over with Bjork extending the margin to 4 with one from the foul line at game’s end. I may appear a bit negative on this game, but simply it is a tongue in check response to what was in reality a bunch of guys winging their way through their first game of the season. There were plenty of positives for us. Our defense was strong, rebounding excellent. We ran the break hard albeit without success and our perimeter passing was great. Everyone had a run and the lesson that training is just that is learnt. We are the Old Reds and our opponents will come at us hard regardless of the level. The streak is now at 19 with tougher opposition to come. Shout out to Roughy and B-Rad for scoring. St Peter’s bench 5, Hanzolo 4
Play Of The Day: St Peters rocking along without a score-sheet and then taking 8 minutes to fill in the one they pinched from us was essential in setting up a 4 point win.
Great Moments in Sport: This is a bit preemptive. With Bjork betting big bro Josh he’ll average 20 points a game we all look forward to the 38 he’s going to shoot next week to get back on track.
Quote of the Week: “I watched a bit of your game. Basketball was surely the loser there” B.Palk
G's BYE
Lady Reds (1-1) v Dunn A -With Emma and Georgie out this week - the Lady Reds employed the services of someone simply known as "Frog". The girls jumped out of the blocks fast - Megan scored on lefty of the tip, got out on the break and scored a couple of layups and some FTs. Frog was eiother scoring inside or hitting the open player from the high post - very handy. The Reds were up 16-6 at halftime. The 2nd half the Reds ran over Dunn (who beat the Reds twice last year). Megan was still scoring, Tracy and Jordy were gettingout on the break, Alicia and Loz hit a couple of jumpers. Frog and Wans controleld the boards and the Reds quickness was way too much for Dunn. Reds won 44-15. Megan had 14, Frog and Jordy 8 and Alicia 7.
Palky's Top 3 Players of the Week:
3rd - Alex Bubner
2nd - Phil Harford
1st - Josh Orken
Game Times:
A's v B's @ 2.40 - Cedar
C's v Hope A @ 5.10 - Cedar
D's v St Casmir A @ 4.20 - Cedar
E's BYE
F's v Taperoo A @ 2.40 - Cedar
G's v Knightsbridge B @ 3.30 - Cedar
Lady Reds v Unley Park B @ 3.30 - Marion
Note - this could change - I will contact you all via Facebook if it does.
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