Men’s basketball
COLLIE Cougars men’s under-19 side played against Tropics at the Eaton Recreation Centre in the first game back after the holiday break.
The Collie team combined well in the first half, with Ethan Miller and Dean Garner effective off the boards.
The Cougars lead for most of the half, losing the lead just before the half-time siren. The score was Tropics 15 to Cougars 13.
It was a game where the lead see-sawed back and forth.
Jason Chappell’s strength and Zac Faries’ agility assisted in keeping the Cougars afloat.
The highlight of the match was Fraser O’Brien’s four three-point baskets.
Miller followed up with a three-pointer and scored from a free throw after the siren. This gave Cougars their first win of the season.
The final score was Collie Cougars 31 to Tropics 26.
Collie scorers: F O’Brien 12, E Miller 11, D Garner 6, Z Faries 2.
The men’s Country Week basketball competition was held at Perry Lakes over the weekend of January 23 and 24.
Collie played in division five of the competition. Despite lack of experience in the senior competition and opposing teams having a strength advantage, Collie played competitive basketball and was unlucky to finish the weekend without a win.
Team members Brendon Justins, Zac Faries, Ethan Miller, Regan Crabbe, Fraser O’Brien, Jamie North and Dean Garner performed well.
The first game at 7.30am Saturday was against Kalgoorlie Boulder (KB) team two. After a disappointing first-half when Collie scored only five points to KB’s 14, Collie stepped up a notch for the second-half and finished the game on 16 points behind KB on 30.
Collie scorers: Miller 5, North 4, Justins 2, Faries 2, Crabbe 2 and Garner 1.
Game two on Saturday was against Esperance. With Crabbe seemingly scoring at will and Justins sinking an impressive three-pointer, the Collie team seemed to have a good lead at half-time with a score of 14 to Esperance seven.
However, after the break Esperance played an aggressive game and clawed its way back to be in front by four points nearing the end of the half.
Fraser O’Brien sunk a three-point shot to put Collie within a point of the lead.
Esperance was in foul trouble at this stage of the game and drew a foul just before the final siren giving Collie two free throws.
Collie’s best shot from the free throw line, Regan Crabbe, was put under the ultimate pressure to score after the siren.
He missed the first shot but held his nerve and scored with the second to even the score at 27-all.
Collie scorers: Crabbe 12, Miller 6, Justins 3, O’Brien 3, Faries 2 and Garner 1.
The third game against Manjimup started at 7pm Saturday.
Collie started strongly with a lead of one point at half-time.
Manjimup fought back to win the match by 11 points with a final score of 37 to Collie 26.
Collie scorers: Miller 11, Crabbe 7, Faries 3, North 2, Justins 2 and O’Brien 1.
Sunday’s first match was against Bindoon team one at 7.30am.
These teams seemed evenly matched.
Dean Garner started to hit his shots, keeping Collie in the game in the first-half.
The half-time score was Bindoon 13 points to Collie 11. The second half had both teams playing tight defensive basketball, with inside shots hard to score. With only a few minutes to go to the end of the game, Bindoon was six points in front.
After not scoring for the whole game, O’Brien hit a three-point shot followed by a two-pointer to put Collie within one point of the lead.
Bindoon scored two points before O’Brien hit another three-pointer on the siren to draw the match on 26-all.
Collie scorers: Garner 10, O’Brien 8, Faries 4, Crabbe 2, Justins 1 and North 1.
Collie’s final game of the competition was against Merredin team one.
This team had a height advantage over the young Collie team, making it almost impossible to score from inside the keyway.
Faries and Crabbe managed to score a three-point shot each.
Merredin won the game easily with a final score of 39 to Collie 18.
Collie scorers: Crabbe 7, Faries 5, Garner 2, Miller 2 and North 2.
The wrong basketball copy was sent to the Collie Mail last week.
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