Key Dates
· Players Player – Saturday 24th August
· Club Lunch – Saturday 12th October
· Stay tuned for times/dates for the G's impending finals run and for
teams making finals in SAABL***
INTERCOL BLOG REPORT
Intercol A’s 55-58 By Bigg Josh
When I was a young lanky boarder at PAC, I quickly became
enthralled by the concept of the Intercol. I rapidly developed a strong hatred
of Saints and everything they stood for. The Saints boys were perceived as posh
rich kids who thought they were better than everyone. The irony in this knows
no bounds. My undeveloped mind knew only hate for the enemy and love for the
tribe, our tribe, the Reds. Some kids even took this rivalry so far as to
physically fight against each other, and in 2004 a brawl between PAC and Saints
boys at Oakbank made the front page of the Advertiser. At the Intercol matches
in all the sports, even Chess, the boys would don their blazers and watch on
intently, screaming chants that ranged from simple primal sounds to
psychological warfare references to the differential between the two schools in
sex-offenders employed. Or simply accusing each member of the other team of
being a homosexual. After I graduated and matured somewhat, I realised the
ridiculousness of how seriously we took it, but every time I play in an Old
Scholars Intercol, that outrageous competitiveness returns for an hour. And so
it was that in this 2019 matchup, 12 years after I had graduated from PAC, the
Intercol spirit raged on. I will preface this report by stating that I have a
very bad memory for events that occur in games I play and watch, and so will do
it and those who played little justice. I will also jarringly switch to
referring to myself in the third person at some point.
After warming up with several dozen layups each, the game tipped off. The first successful bucket came when I went up for an offensive rebound and suddenly found myself performing a one-handed tip jam, albeit a rather soft one. Overcome with the juvenile Intercol spirit, I recall finding the face of my opponent rather dislikeable and so immediately set to work niggling him with shoves and bumps. Saints quickly responded by hitting an early three, setting the tone for their fast-paced, jump-shooting offense for most of the game. Foo drove strongly and Liam was hitting his threes, both scoring 6 in the first half. They had two very quick guards who used screens effectively to make open shots, with the aptly named Wurm worming his way to 10 points in the first half. Saints maintained a small lead for most of the first half, before making some separation to go into half time up 28-23. The beginning of the second half saw the Reds stumble, committing several turnovers, allowing Saints to increase their lead.
The Wurm and the big man with the dislikeable face continued scoring for Saints, but it was Brendan Francesca who stepped up for Reds in the second half of the second half, hitting three threes to close the gap, aided by further threes from Billy and Stuart, as we drew level with then eclipsed Saints late in the game. It was looking very promising for us as we entered the final minute up three. Wurm beat his perimeter defender for what looked like an open layup before Orken prevented his successful execution of said layup by spiking the ball away against the backboard. With mere seconds to go, Orken was fouled and sent to the line with two chances to make it a two-possession game, but in classic Orken fashion, missed both free throws, having previously missed a pair earlier in the half to go 0/4. Saints got the rebound and took their chance, making a layup to tie the game and send us to overtime. Nice, Orken. With both teams at the limit, overtime was all about the free throws, with 7/9 total combined points for the period coming from the line. Saints opened with a quick bucket in the post from their big man. The three minutes counted down as the two teams exchanged shots at the free throw line. As the end of the period drew near, Saints had maintained their two-point lead from the early bucket, and a late flagrant foul sent them to the line with only five seconds left. The first shot went in. The second shot missed and Orken got the rebound and flailed around in an attempted hail-Mary as he was fouled. Unfortunately, the foul call was on the ground so Orken, at that point 0/4 from the line, was sent to the stripe for two shots. Ideally, he needed to hit the first and miss the second so we could get the offensive rebound and shoot for the tie or win. Predictably, he missed the first shot, so now the only option was to hit a three for the tie off an O-board. Improbably, Orken got his own rebound but failed to find an open three-point shooter, the buzzer calling to an end one of the great competitive meetings between PAC and Saints, the final score 58-55. Orken finished with 0/6 free throws. The game was well refereed and Saints played fairly and competitively, exactly how an Intercol should be played.
After warming up with several dozen layups each, the game tipped off. The first successful bucket came when I went up for an offensive rebound and suddenly found myself performing a one-handed tip jam, albeit a rather soft one. Overcome with the juvenile Intercol spirit, I recall finding the face of my opponent rather dislikeable and so immediately set to work niggling him with shoves and bumps. Saints quickly responded by hitting an early three, setting the tone for their fast-paced, jump-shooting offense for most of the game. Foo drove strongly and Liam was hitting his threes, both scoring 6 in the first half. They had two very quick guards who used screens effectively to make open shots, with the aptly named Wurm worming his way to 10 points in the first half. Saints maintained a small lead for most of the first half, before making some separation to go into half time up 28-23. The beginning of the second half saw the Reds stumble, committing several turnovers, allowing Saints to increase their lead.
The Wurm and the big man with the dislikeable face continued scoring for Saints, but it was Brendan Francesca who stepped up for Reds in the second half of the second half, hitting three threes to close the gap, aided by further threes from Billy and Stuart, as we drew level with then eclipsed Saints late in the game. It was looking very promising for us as we entered the final minute up three. Wurm beat his perimeter defender for what looked like an open layup before Orken prevented his successful execution of said layup by spiking the ball away against the backboard. With mere seconds to go, Orken was fouled and sent to the line with two chances to make it a two-possession game, but in classic Orken fashion, missed both free throws, having previously missed a pair earlier in the half to go 0/4. Saints got the rebound and took their chance, making a layup to tie the game and send us to overtime. Nice, Orken. With both teams at the limit, overtime was all about the free throws, with 7/9 total combined points for the period coming from the line. Saints opened with a quick bucket in the post from their big man. The three minutes counted down as the two teams exchanged shots at the free throw line. As the end of the period drew near, Saints had maintained their two-point lead from the early bucket, and a late flagrant foul sent them to the line with only five seconds left. The first shot went in. The second shot missed and Orken got the rebound and flailed around in an attempted hail-Mary as he was fouled. Unfortunately, the foul call was on the ground so Orken, at that point 0/4 from the line, was sent to the stripe for two shots. Ideally, he needed to hit the first and miss the second so we could get the offensive rebound and shoot for the tie or win. Predictably, he missed the first shot, so now the only option was to hit a three for the tie off an O-board. Improbably, Orken got his own rebound but failed to find an open three-point shooter, the buzzer calling to an end one of the great competitive meetings between PAC and Saints, the final score 58-55. Orken finished with 0/6 free throws. The game was well refereed and Saints played fairly and competitively, exactly how an Intercol should be played.
Stuart Brennan 12, Brendan and Foo 10 each and Liam with 9
from three 3s.
Intercol B’s 35-56 By Selfy
After coming in from a large hungover lost just two days
earlier, the Bs were ready to set the record straight and show saints that
we’ve beat them before and we can do it again. Unfortunately saints were on
form just like they were on Saturday, they played hard, fast and fundamental
basketball consistently all game. The Bs having some good shots and tasty plays
unfortunately the levels of skill in our team was unbalanced and made offence a
struggle and our defence weak. Morgan and Cam proved valuable inside providing
the Bs with some valuable boards and Morgan proving himself creating some easy
baskets with his off ball movements and screens for others. Angus played hard
and drove to the ring well, unfortunately rough night for him with some unlucky
rolls but his determination and effort gave us the fighting chance we had until
saints pulled away in the second half. Self did what he did and kept the Bs in
the game as long as he could with Daniel Foo making plenty of opportunities for
the team and playing hard against boys twice his size. Poor attitude of certain
players caused disruption in the team and some selfish basketball resulted.
Saints got up 56-35 in the end.
Self with 18, Gussy with 11.
Intercol C’s 36-49 By Ollie
Top scorers Stu McDonald - 14 Ollie Fox - 11
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