REPLAYS: Sturt v Forestville men’s and women’s Basketball Challenges matches
The Sabres proved too strong for the Eagles in their men’s and women’s Basketball Challenge matches on Saturday. WATCH all the action in our exclusive replays of the hoops games here.
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Two sons of former NBL players led Sturt to victory in their Adelaide Basketball Challenge match against Sturt at Pasadena on Saturday night.
The Sabres proved too strong, beating the Eagles 114-51.
Joel Spear, whose father David Spear won an NBL title with the 36ers in 1986, starred for Sturt and, according to coach Paul Rigoni, was the driving force behind his side’s win.
Spear topscored with 30 points and was super strong for the Sabres.
He was given plenty of support from teammate Tom Kubank, son of ex-Townsville Suns and Adelaide star Graham Kubank.
Kubank scored 22 points, while Tom Goodall added 17.
In a first for the sport, the men’s and women’s hoops games between the Sabres and the Eagles were live streamed on advertiser.com.au.
Rigoni said his side played solid basketball “at both ends of the floor” and praised Spear’s efforts
.
“At the start of the game in the first few minutes, Joel Spear went five off five threes in a four-point play and set the game up from the start,” Rigoni said.
“They were undermanned, they only had six players.
“But in those first few minutes, Joel got it done.”
Rigoni was also proud of his side’s teamwork.
“We had 31 assists, so we were unselfish with the ball,” Rigoni said.
“I think that was the key.
“The games are a bit more relaxed but once we start playing, everyone wants to play and compete and I think we were pretty consistent and competed well for the whole game.”
The Adelaide Basketball Challenge is a newly-formed, condensed league, comprising of 10 top tier men’s and women’s clubs.
The clubs were set to take part in the NBL1 Central competition this year but that was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sturt’s women also put on a strong performance beating Forestville 102-58 in the earlier match.
Jade Johnson was the Sabres topscorer, netting 24 points.
But coach John Turnbull said the victory was a team effort.
“The way we shared the ball and moved the ball (was great),” Turnbull said.
“We had nearly 30 assists for the game, so that was pretty good.
“Jade is very focused, she can shoot the hell out of it and she was on the end of a lot of other good stuff the team did.”
