Oilers too slick for Stingers in title win

The Dunsborough Oilers Basketball club have won the Busselton Amateur Basketball Association A-grade men’s championship over the YCW Stingers in a hotly contested grand final.

In a rematch of last year’s grand final, the top-ranked Oilers side were able to hold off a fast-finishing Stingers team to win 51–45.

The Oilers got off to a fast start on Friday, leading 11-0 after the first two minutes, but the Stingers hung around all game with some strong defensive play, controlling the paint with stronger bodies close to the basket.

Oilers coach Travis Fassom said the game of basketball came down to patience and his team had been more effective with the ball.

“We just have a good squad — we try to build on that every year and we have some great leaders in this team,” he said.

“These boys bring the intensity every week and are mentally strong.

The most important thing in any sport is what’s going on in your head and we were able to slow the game down.” Dunsborough young gun Jack Marrell hit a Hail Mary three-pointer at the half-time buzzer, handing all the momentum to the Oilers.

“Jack has been playing in our men’s team since he was 13 — we try to develop kids and they’re only going to get better by playing in the men’s team and tasting success,” Fassom said.

YCW got to within two points in the final minutes before several fouls saw Dunsborough pull away by shooting well at the free throw line.

Stingers Coach Beau Chinnery said his team had exceeded expectations by getting to the grand final due to better consistency of top players, but just couldn’t pull off the Cinderella story.

“We showed really good intensity and gave it 100 per cent but just couldn’t reel in their lead,” he said.

Grand final MVP went to Dunsborough Oilers point guard Matthew Mansfield, who scored 20 points including several important free throws in the dying minutes, while Adam Dehring scored 16 points for the Stingers.