PPBA-JC
Years ago
Port Pirie Panthers vs. Uni SA
On Saturday, 13th October UNI SA visited Port Pirie to take on our Senior Panther Men Combined Team.
There was no conspiracy as to who was invited etc. One of our players (Adam Williams) who is our Senior Coordinator, was a student & player for UNI SA while he lived in Adelaide, so he caught up with his mates & invited them down for a game.
Anyway, the weekend was billed as a 2 game Exhibition Challenge & considering the quantity of functions going on in Port Pirie, we billed it as a great success. The boys from both UNI SA & our home team really enjoyed it both on & off the court & once again BASKETBALL was the greatest & ultimate winner from the efforts put in by everyone.
UNI SA arrived in the wee hours of the morning to take to the court for their first match at 11:30am.
Both teams used it as a warm up, crowds were limited (softball/cricket started) and the game was quite the see-saw match which saw UNI SA come out victorious by a point in the last 4 seconds of the game.
Panthers Head Coach rotated the players evenly so the boys (in their first hit out as a team), could get a feel for each other & the UNI SA boys used it to learn our court & surroundings.
At 7:00pm the night started with our Junior Development Network Kids taking to the court for a match, to show off their skills & what they had learnt from their recent trip to Whyalla for basketball camp.
It was quite the close affair with the 2 teams scoring freely resulting in a high scoring game, with Powerade Blue coming out on top by 5 points over Powerade White.
The MAIN EVENT was tipped to be very exciting given the result of the first game, however UNI SA wasn't having any of that early on - racing out to a 17 point half time lead.
I don't actually have the score sheets in front of me, but I know this fact!!!!!
The Port Pirie Panthers came out after half time, with quite the bit to prove, both to themselves & the 130 plus strong crowd sitting in the stands.
Port Pirie managed to turn it on and by 3/4 time had outscored the UNI SA boys 30 to 9, to hold a slender 4 point margin, going into the final quarter.
Port Pirie continued on & powered home to a 14 point victory, much to the delight of everyone involved.
As said, the biggest winner was Basketball.
The Port Pirie Basketball Association welcome more (any and all) metro teams to come down to have a run against our combined men.
We would really like to fill our calender up for Saturday the 3rd of November, if anyone is interested. We can supply really cheap/more than likely FREE accomodation, you just need to find your way here, play a couple of games of basketball, stay for a drink & enjoy a FREE supper put on by the players & their partners (mum's for some).
Other dates that could be of interest to you is Dec 8, Dec 15, Jan 5, Jan 12, Jan 19, Feb 16, Feb23 ( the 3rd Nov would be a real key) - then moving into April & continuing on while we can fill weekends with games until the Barossa Valley Senior Carnival in July.....
