Forestville records hard-fought, gritty grand final win over Mount Gambier
Forestville wins the double as the club’s men back up the women’s grand final triumph with a title victory over Mount Gambier.
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Forestville overcame a strong Mount Gambier outfit to claim the men’s Premier League basketball grand final by 17 points at Basketball SA Stadium on Saturday night.
The Eagles trailed early but a run of 21 points to the Pioneers’ six with four minutes left in the second quarter swung the momentum and led to the 107 to 90 victory.
Forestville’s triumph followed the women’s title win against Sturt earlier on Saturday night.
The Eagles were the last Premier League club to claim the double with both sides prevailing in their respective grand finals in 2011.
Eagle Michael Harris took home the MVP after top scoring with a game high 30 points as well as amassing eight boards.
“It’s the first time we had beaten them all year and what a great day to do it,” Forestville coach Andy Simons said.
“I’m feeling fantastic.
“It fills me with pride because we push them (the players) hard and we ask a lot of them and we ask them to believe in a lot of stuff but it’s nights like this where we see it shine through.
“I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Forestville lost last season’s title decider to Southern Tigers but Simons said the defeat against the Tigers was not used as motivation to secure a victory this year.
“Last year’s last year, this year is this year,” Simons said.
“We look forward, not back.
“We had an opportunity last year and weren’t good enough but we were this year.”
Forestville’s US import Greg Mays was prolific with 27 points, 13 rebounds, while Majok Deng (20 points, 18 boards, five assists) was also a standout.
Mount Gambier, meanwhile, looked strong early in the fiery clash and was powerful offensively through US import Kentrell Barkley (28 points, 22 boards) and skipper Tom Daly (20 points).
The Pioneers were also making plenty of three-point baskets but the Eagles were just hungrier at the contest in the second half and refused to lose the one-on-one ball.
Mount Gambier coach Richard Hill said his side just ran out of legs, having played one game in 34 days due to finishing the minor round top.
“We only played one game in five weeks and that really showed,” Hill said.
“After half-time we just ran out of gas.
“We trained really hard but it’s not like playing games and none of our players have really dealt with playing just one game.
“That’s not an excuse, we earnt the right to maybe have a bit of a disadvantage.
“We just couldn’t stop Forestville’s run, I felt like we would turn it around but we just couldn’t.”
In November last year, Mount Gambier’s short term future was uncertain when Basketball Australia disbanded the South Eastern Basketball League and the Pioneers were denied a place in Victoria’ Big V League.
They were then granted entry into the SA Premier League after clubs backflipped on their initial vote and a key administrator resigned.
Hill was unsure where his side would play next year after Basketball Australia stopped the club from joining New Zealand’s national league.
Hill said the club had applied to join Victoria’s NBL1 competition in 2020 and hoped to find out if its bid was successful in the next few weeks.
