THE South West Slammers’ outstanding season came to an end on Saturday night when they were unable to claim a grand final victory, being defeated by the Joondalup Wolves 105 – 75.
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The Wolves were hot from the opening tip, draining shots from the three-point line and consistently defending the Slammers at the rim.
Slammers player/coach Ty Harrelson said after the game that the Wolves were deserved winners of the championship.
“I don’t think we played that badly, I just think they played that good,” Harrelson said.
“If we lost I wanted it to be to a great basketball team and Joondalup are definitely a great team.”
Joondalup unleashed a barrage of three-point shots to open the game and led the Slammers 18-5 early.
But a small run put the Slammers back into contention as they narrowed the gap to just six points.
Unfortunately the Wolves scored a number of late baskets to push the lead back to 10 points at the end of the first.
The Wolves continued to howl in the second quarter with slick play from championship MVP Trian Iliadis and Robert Huntington.
“We didn’t quite get the ending we wanted but I’ve loved every minute of it, and it’s shown just how hard Basketball South West has worked.”
- South West Slammers player/coach Ty Harrelson.
But Brian Voelkel fought hard for the Slammers gathering a number of rebounds and dishing out plenty of assists.
Wade Hitchcock was also giving a great effort for the South West.
But despite the hard work the Slammers trailed by 33 points at the end of the third.
All-star guard Tre Nichols found it hard to deal with the Wolves strict defence as he shot just three of 18 attempts, but the Slammers managed to score well in the fourth.
Trent Worthington knocked down a couple of shots while Voelkel continued to give effort.
The Slammers won the fourth quarter 27-24, but were unable to come close to the Wolves.
Voelkel finished with 10 points, 19 rebounds and nine assists while Worthington tallied 11 points, nine rebounds and five blocks.
Harrelson posted 12 points, five rebounds and three assists and Hitchcock poured in 14 points to go along with four rebounds.
Harrelson said the grand final appearance was a testament to the determination shown by the Slammers’ organisation.
“Three years ago we started out with a goal to make it here (the grand final),” he said.
“We didn’t quite get the ending we wanted but I’ve loved every minute of it, and it’s shown just how hard Basketball South West has worked.”
