Albany Basketball Association’s top men’s side fall to third straight grand final defeat at country champs

For the third straight year the Albany Basketball Association top men’s team have fallen short at the Basketball WA Senior Country Championships, losing Monday’s grand final to Bunbury by six points. In search of their ninth championships division title in the past 15 years, Albany again reached the grand final after finishing the regular games on top of their pool standings and then defeating Karratha by 15 points in Monday morning’s semifinal. Bunbury went through undefeated in their pool and defeated Busselton in the semifinal to qualify for the decider. In what was an even first half the two sides traded blows as the margin never grew above six for most of the opening 20 minutes but Albany took a narrow one-point advantage into half-time. Albany scored the first nine points after the break, six from tall Luke Wilson, as they opened up a 10-point lead. However, Bunbury responded and with seven minutes left in the match took the lead for the first time in the match. Scores were back level with three minutes left but Bunbury finished powerfully to secure the title 51-45 at Perth’s Bendat Basketball Centre. McGuire was a shining light in the grand final defeat hitting three long bombs to top-score with 14 points while Kyle Smith (9 points) and Wilson (8) also had an impact but it was a third consecutive grand final loss for Albany in the championship division. Albany drew their final qualifying game against Busselton 29-all on Sunday but earlier had wins over Margaret (53-33), Mandurah (58-35), Esperance (60-30). On Monday morning Albany beat Karratha 35-20 as Hamish McMorran top-scored with 14 points and was well supported by McGuire (8) and Mason Tion (7) to book their place in the decider. Albany’s top women’s side finished third in championship division, an encouraging sign for their young outfit. With four teams in the top women’s competition, Albany played each team twice and finished with a 3-3 win-loss record to finish third overall. Albany lost their first two games to Busselton and Karratha before defeating Esperance (42-40), Busselton (27-26) but a loss against Karratha (28-20) hurt their grand final hopes. They finished their campaign with a win over Esperance 48-37 but missed out on second spot by just over nine per cent. Albany’s second men’s team competed in the combined division-one and two competition and won one game from four to finish fourth in their pool. Albany won their second game against Pinjarra comfortably 59-20 as Taj Williams and James Kirby starred with 11 points each. However, they lost their other three fixtures against Bunbury (51-38), Broome (32-29) and Karratha (43-24).