Knox spectacular

[basketballer999]

THIS Saturday night, Knox Stadium is set to come alive as the Knox Raiders tackle the undefeated Brisbane Spartans as part of a mid-season basketball spectacular.

To celebrate the mid-point of an exciting SEABL season, Knox is throwing a spectacular basketball party that will include pre-game and half-time entertainment and appearances from Australian basketball’s first family, the Gazes.

And, admission to the night is by gold coin donation, with all proceeds going to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

The Raiders are fourth on the East Conference ladder, with an 8-8 record, and, just two games clear of fifth-placed Kilsyth, will be desperate to claim the scalp of the 13-0 Spartans.

Perhaps the most interesting match-up of the night will be between Raiders head coach Graham Longstaff and his longtime friend Bruce Palmer, head coach of the Spartans.

Simon Brookhouse, Knox Basketball CEO, is looking forward to a big crowd to witness the match-up of the two wily coaches and believes the night will be full of entertainment, on-court and off.

“Saturday is really going to be a special night,” he said.

“We’ve got Australian basketball legends Andrew and Lindsay Gaze in attendance and some great entertainment lined-up for everyone to enjoy.

“Since Brisbane (previously known as Southern Districts) entered the league a few years ago, Knox has created a great rivalry with them and that rivalry was again taken to another level last Saturday night in Brisbane.

“The game was one of our guy’s best matches and I’m looking forward to the re-match down here against them in front of our home crowd.”

Brookhouse said Brisbane had been playing in pink uniforms for the entire month of May to help raise funds for and awareness of Breast Cancer, which is to be commended.

“Knox Basketball thought it would be the least we could do by making admission to the game a gold coin donation with all proceeds going to the National Breast Cancer Foundation,” Brookhouse said.

“I encourage everyone to get behind this great cause and come down to Knox Stadium this coming Saturday and enjoy the mid-season SEABL Spectacular.”

Pre-game entertainment commences at 7:15pm before the game tips-off at 8pm.

MEANWHILE, in this week’s matches, Knox scored two wins on its road trip to Albury when the men defeated Albury-Wodonga, 110-80 (Nick Payne 34 points and CJ Massingale 25), while the women saluted, 74-58 (Danni Bone 28).

[catcountry]

What a great idea. Knox are to be commended for giving up a night's profits in favour of gold coins to breast cancer. brings people back to the game as well. win-win all round, well done. This can't have been an easy call by Knox management, our game needs such courageous leadership.

mid-point of the season was three weeks ago though ;):p

[UserFriendlyRoll]

MEANWHILE, in this week’s matches, Knox scored two wins on its road trip to Albury when the men defeated Albury-Wodonga, 110-80 (Nick Payne 34 points and CJ Massingale 25), while the women saluted, 74-58 (Danni Bone 28).Ouch, that's got to hurt Albury. Having Nick Payne return to Albury and drop 34 points on them.

[basketballer999]

its all for breast cancer big night lots of persons should be in attendance and pre-game entertainment and half time should be a good night

[basketballer999]

RAIDERS SNAP SPARTANS UNDEFEATED STREAK IN FRONT OF A MASSIVE HOME CROWD




The Knox Ford Raiders SEABL Men ended the Brisbane Spartans undefeated streak at 14 on Saturday night at Knox Converse Stadium in front of over 2,200 fans in an overtime thriller, 107-103. One of the games of the season, both teams battled hard all night but it was the Raiders who were helped over the line by one of the biggest home crowds Knox Converse Stadium has seen. In attendance was some of the who’s who of Australian Basketball including Andrew Gaze, Michele Timms, Lindsay Gaze, Larry Sengstock, Dan Kirtley, Wayne Bird, Darryl McDonald and Adam Gibson. Basketball royalty was joined by the Knox Mayor David Cooper, a number of other Knox City Councillors, local Politicians, past players and life members who witnessed along with all the Raider faithful one of the more memorable games of basketball one will see.

Advertised as the mid-season SEABL spectacular, fans enjoyed some pre-game entertainment from under 8 players from the KSC Phoenix Junior Domestic Basketball Club who played an exhibition game with guest appearances from Australian Basketball icons Andrew Gaze and Michele Timms who were honouree refs to start the game. Other highlights included a special half-time interview with newly appointed CEO of Basketball Australia, Larry Sengstock who spoke to the thousands in attendance about the state of the sport and future plans, former Melbourne Tigers cheerleaders who helped spark the crowd in time-outs with some entertaining routines and fan Andrew Morris who drew the crowd to its feet at half-time, taking out the Bendigo Community Bank FTG & Rowville Shoot 4 Cash competition. Andrew stepped out to half-court and from a standing start knocked down the half-court bomb on his first attempt, earning him a $160 thanks to Knox Basketball Major Sponsor Bendigo Community Bank FTG & Rowville.

Both teams started the anticipated clash struggling to shoot the ball with any consistency and despite 11 opening quarter points from Raiders star CJ Massingale (36 points, 5 rebounds), the undefeated Spartans team took a 3 point advantage into the quarter time break. Coaching against his old time friend Bruce Palmer, Raiders head coach Graham Longstaff gave his chargers a rev up before they came out for the start of the second quarter which paid dividends. The Raiders turned up the defensive pressure in the second and found some rhythm on the offensive end, shooting the ball at 55% from the field for 29 second quarter points whilst keeping their opponent to just 29.4% field goal shooting for a total of just 17 and setting up a handy 9 point lead going into the main break.

The third quarter was a basket for basket twelve minutes, both teams not giving an inch as the Raiders maintained their 9 point buffer by the end of the period. Going into the final period, the fans got right behind the home team, willing the Raiders to get over the line against one of the form sides of the competition but the Spartans were never going to let their undefeated streak come to a close easily. Despite an opening three-point make by Massingale to start proceedings off in the fourth, the Spartans came hard at the Raiders in the final term.

Hot three-point shooting from the Spartans team and poor free throw shooting from the Raiders kept the game in touch for the Brisbane team. Up by 7 points with only 1:23 remaining, Spartan Tyson Demos (26 points, 7 rebounds) would connect from downtown to cut the lead to 4 which then led to a Greg Vanderjagt (18 points, 15 rebounds) foul on the following possession on Mick Hill (15 points, 8 rebounds) which sent Hill to the line. Vanderjagt would also pick up a technical foul, giving the Raiders four free throws with 1:18 to go. Hill would shoot all four shots but could only manage to connect on two of four.

Holding possession of the ball after the technical free throws, the Raiders in-bounded to Hill who was immediately fouled and went to the line for a further two shots. Hill again would only go 50% for the trip, giving his team a 7 point advantage. A quick Thalo Green (10 points, 7 rebounds) three-point basket cut the lead back to 4, leading to a another game extending foul by the Spartans, this time on Massingale who converted both free throws to push the margin out to 6. A quick response from Vanderjagt with a two point make lead to yet another deliberate foul from the Spartans but would not lead to another free throw miss as Massingale again was clutch from the line, hitting two from two and keeping the lead at 6 with just 35 seconds left.

But the Spartans were still not done with yet, Peni Nasalo (7 points, 2 rebounds) knocking down a three with 24 clicks remaining and then following up with a foul on Nick Payne (15 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) to stop the clock with 18 seconds left. Connecting on at least one of the two bonus free throws would have made it a two possession game and have almost put the game out of reach for the Spartans but Payne would come up empty from the line and give the Spartans one last chance of tying the game with a three point conversion. Drew Williamson (18 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 blocks) would attempt a three with 10 seconds left which bounced off the rim into the red hot shooting hand of Tyson Demos who dribbled the ball out to the three point arc in front of the Raiders bench and elevated up over three defenders and drained a crowd silencing three-pointer to send the game into overtime.

With the momentum completely shifted to the Spartans and Raider Lester Strong (16 points, 15 rebounds) fouled out of the game, the Raiders could have easily dropped their heads and crumbled under the intense Spartan pressure but the Raiders were resilient and fed off the energy of their biggest regular season home crowd in seasons. Leading by a single point with less than 20 seconds remaining, a corner Mick Hill three gave the Raiders a 4 point buffer, this time enough to close out the game to the delight and relief of Knox Converse Stadium.

The win takes the Raiders to 9-8 on the season and elevates them to third on the East Conference ladder, just ahead on percentage from Bendigo (9-8) who is next on the Raiders radar on Saturday 13th June in Bendigo. Following the clash in Bendigo the Raiders will return to Knox Converse Stadium on Sunday 14th June for a match-up with Geelong (11-6). All teams will enjoy a one week break over the Queen’s Birthday weekend.

In a night jam packed with highlights and entertainment, the most important outcome of the night came in the way of raising funds and awareness for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Knox players, coaches and administrators wore pink polo shirts in recognition of the NBCF with the players wearing the shirts in warm-ups whilst Brisbane continued to play in full pink uniforms as they have done for the entire month of May. All proceeds from the spectacular including admission, raffle ticket takings and proceeds from the auctioning of the Raiders pink signed warm-up shirts went to the worthy Foundation, a final figure will be announced later this week on the Knox Basketball website, www.knoxbasketball.com.au.

[Big Jim]

Well done to Knox on their promotion of this event - top class.

Game was great but it was a pity Brisbane leading scorer did not play after being injured the night before in Albury.

If Brisbane keep their team until season's end they will be very hard to beat.

Knox are getting better each week.