Congratulations to Toby Lightheart who was named equal MVP for division 2 this season after amassing a cool 31 votes!

Other entries in the Top 10s:

• Tam Walker polled equal second place for the division 2 ladies with 19 votes
• Scott McLuskey polled 15 votes for the division 5 men, putting him at equal 6th place
• Jeremy Cotterill also polled 15 votes for the division 5 men, despite missing a good chunk of the season

Well done to all of the above!

Among other things, the Griffins internal team awards will be presented at the AUBC Winter Dinner 2011, which is fast approaching on the 22nd of October.

The Griffins opened with some sweet shooting from Scotty and B, nailing buckets from wherever they got the ball. Inside out? 2 points. Stroll to the foul line and don’t get defended? 2 points. Fast break jumpers? 2 points. J Tizzle tried to assert some dominance inside but his new shoes clearly dazzled the ref, causing some travel calls that took a good deal of the Fantastic out of the 5. The exodus of the fantastical continued as 14 fouls were called for the quarter, B being responsible for 3 early ones.

The Griffs decided to close out the quarter by winding the clock down to ten seconds before making a move. Unfortunately everyone fell asleep before then – nobody moved and the ball was passed straight into an opponent’s arms for a layup. It was all part of the master plan however as with 4 seconds remaining the ball was inbounded to Kelly who calmly banked it in from the half way line.

Griffins 21 – 14 South

The Fandango Five reentered the court to the tune of Kelly apologizing for about the 17th time for turning the ball over. The game then began to settle into a pattern: certain overzealous Griffs dancing out of reach of opponents to avoid fouling out, and hoping we could score more at the other end. B continued where he left off from inside the arc and the Griffs maintained their lead.

Griffins 37 – 31 South

Having fulfilled their travel quota for night, JT’s shoes were allowed to score a quintuple of baskets for the quarter including one fadeaway fallaway leanaway moveaway welliwasgoingbackwardsanyway on the post. He also picked up his fourth foul and became meaningless defensively – getting further and further away from the ball. Nonetheless, the Fading Five executed offensively and started to run the floor for some easy buckets, pushing their lead out at the final change.

Griffins 59 – 46 South

The Flabbergasted Five decided South could now have all the layups they liked – we intended to win anyway. With tiring legs some space opened up for Chris (2) and Kelly (1) to drain some threes and get us over the line with the help of a couple of steals from our guards.

Griffins 77 – 68 South

Scotty – 16

JT’s New Shoes – 21

Chris – 14

Kel – 10

B – 16 (or 46 if you believe the scribble on the scoresheet)

Clearly the difference was in the coaching staff: Phil – back with us after chasing fame and glory with the 5.2 team – calling four timeouts during the game to the (nonexistent) South coach’s… zero, despite having as many players as this article will likely have readers.

T minus four weeks to finals!

Also I got new shoes.

Peace out.

Pregame:

Div 4 Griff-ettes played at 6 at Hillcrest unfortunately this time did not suit Jess Westthorp who decided to join her 4 teammates with 2 minutes to go in the first quarter. Despite umpiring help from Peter Steel (D2 men) the Griffins gave up a lead that would decide the match. In his attempt to single-handedly umpire the match, benefit the Griffins and get fit Pete forgot to watch out for the lines and thus tripped over in front of everyone!

The Central’s opposition was boosted by Ex-Griffins Tara and Catherine. Despite this the girls continued fighting; Anna ‘Post-moves’ Perejma and Jess McNamara played hard inside while our Kate-combo (Simmons & Richards) controlled the tempo of the game.

The Girls matched Centrals in the last 3 quarters thanks to some very sharp shooting by Jess Westthorp who finished the game with 16 points at 75%.

The girls went down by 12 in the end. Coach Richard McNally refused a post match interview because he had the DERBY to get to. It was supposedly before he left the Hillcrest stadium that he bought his match ticket for the Dome…

Meanwhile at the Dome…

7:30 pm and fans were packing into the 8000 person stadium. The Court Observation Worker indicated that she had not seen the stadium so packed since the Korfball world champs earlier that week. (Ex-Griffs Patty and Robbo played for Australia in that competition)

Griffins Team 1 (Griffs-olds) consisting of tried and trusted warriors were boosted by the inclusion of Dave Scroggs who was flown in for the game on his company jet.

Griffins Team 2 (Griff-lings) was made up – with the exception of McNally – of many fresh young faces uncorrupted by pub-crawls and Griffin antics. The big exclusion for the match was the absence of Jeremy Cotterill who is serving his 3^rd week of an 8 week ban for playing social ball… This loss was countered by a coaching change. Head coach Phil Antram, deciding not to continue to coach the injury prone Griff-olds, is now with the Griff-lings.

The sidelines were a-buzz with talk of the match ups provided by this contest;

Brian ‘B’ Ho vs Nguyen ‘The Smiling Samurai’

Luke ‘Little Wens’ Wensley vs Matt ‘Wens’ Wensley

Mockford vs Referee

Scroggs vs Hamish Appleyard

McNally vs Tonkin

Penn vs Kel’s own team (does anyone listen to him ???)

The title for The Griffins Most Beautiful Man award was also up for grabs during the next fully timed 40 minutes. The winner would get a centerfold article in GQ (Griffins Quarterly). Shortlisted Contestants included; Dave Scroggs, Brad Pitman, Hamish Appleyard and Chris Mockford.

Finally; after Dave Scroggs found his uniform, after our president adjusted his headband and after California Ken had finished talking to the Australian media… It was game time!!!

First Quarter:

As anticipated the second derby of 2011 started at a frantic pace. A McNally air ball from inside the key, Hamish Appleyard chasing down Kel Penn, missed passes and shots all indicated that this game was truly a Griffins Derby.

Things changed however when The Dan Harris entered the Dome in his shirt and shorts… the man does not feel the cold! It was with Dan looking on that the Scroggsmachine turned on! Dave’s slick keyway feeds to JT as well as layups and steals ensured that the Griff-olds finished the quarter on top.

Second Quarter: Score 19-9

The second quarter started the same way as the first with the Griff-olds slicing through the Griff-lings zone defense. The defensive ninja Nguyen changed this… he was everywhere, increasing the pressure on the Griff-old guards.

Kel and B responded to the pressure with the play of the game… 9:09 second quarter, Kel with the ball after some broken play lofted it into the key where Brian was waiting. Brian elevated, received the pinpoint pass and lay the ball in with such force that the entire stadium shook. Some spectators swear that B actually jumped over the ring and threw it down from 14 feet in the air. What we do know is that B had 2 more points to his name and Kel had one more assist. To prove he was human Brian then chose to miss his next open layup. B made this post game comment; “Missing layups helps supporters relate to you – just ask Chris McMichael”

After this showboating the Griff-lings knuckled-down. Hamish improved his standing as the Griffins most beautiful after knocking down a deep 3 on Dave’s head. Only to repeat the act a few plays later. Luke Wensley came closer to taking the nickname “Wens” after making a sweet shot from an inbound play. Rich McNally showed his young teammates how to do it with a sweet old-school hook in the lane.

This scoring frustrated the Griff-olds. Mocky got told off by the ref for helping him count beyond 24… Dave decided enough-was-enough. After pulling down a D-board he proceeded to dribble the court, lose control twice, wink to the cheerleaders, make a business call and then put in the left-handed layup.

Half Time:

It couldn’t be a derby without The Dan getting told off by the Establishment for shooting during the break. Despite spending most of her time disciplining unruly basketballers the (Editor’s Note: the next word is Chris’s previously forgotten manuscript seems to be covered in an ink spillage!) managed to find a bogus playing ticket…cue dramatic music…

The Griff-lings showed that to them poverty is worse than dobbing-in a team mate as they promptly pointed the finger at their team veteran Richard McNally. Shocked at the mutiny he was witnessing and knowing that negotiating with the (Editor’s Note: what was Chris doing with all this ink, anyway?) was futile he resigned to buying a new ticket.

Scotty Buckets tried his best to keep the crowed on-side by offering lollies to his biggest fans. Wow isn’t Scott a great guy – in fact he may be leading the Griffins Good-Guy award which was held by Rich McNally until moments before.

Third Quarter: Score 37-23

Nguyen the ‘Nice Ninja’ started the 3^rd at warp speed, unfortunately his first play was not ideal… maybe his boardies under the basketball shorts was restricting or maybe he was smiling too fast??? Whatever it was, he missed a very open layup…

Kel showed it is easier if his teammates do most of the work as he tipped in their shots. Brad got his post game going pulling big boards and scoring over his U23’s coach in the lane. Mockford got the shits and a techfoul after hitting a screen he did not know was coming. Brian continued racking up assists. All this action required big Wens to reach for his puffer. Tonkin decided Brad had done enough and stripped him of the ball at the high post (Editor’s Note: totally not a foul…).

The quarter’s final play pitted L Wens against D Scroggs. The bigger body, sleepy eyes and complete facial hair coverage resulted in a layup, a foul & a made free throw.

Luke tried to get his own back taking a ¾ court shot. Not one of his final shots in each quarter of the 3 quarters was even close – but they did affect his shot percentage…

Fourth Quarter: Score 55-33

The fourth quarter was just as eventful as the first 3 with John Tonkin keeping the stats bench busy with his 6^th block of the night to go with his game high 14 points. The fourth started with an 8-0 run to the Griff-olds but after a timeout and carefully chosen words by Coach Antram the Griff-lings were back playing proper basketball.

Luke Wensley made up for his defensive lapse at the end of the third by blocking the Scroggsmachine attempting a reverse layup. Luke then went on to splash a 3 in his older brother’s face. Matthew indicated that he did not see the ball go in the basket because he was too busy looking at the scoreboard…

Wens got his own highlight later on though; with the shot-clock winding down he had the ball at the high post, he made a strong move to the basket, he jumped – floating through the lane in a Kobe-esque fashion, made the shot and then included the mandatory ESPN fist pump.

Kel continued to seemingly talk to himself, Hamish knocked down another 3, Buckets made buckets from the short corner and Brad threw some cheap shots and talked some smack. Unfortunately the Griff-old’s proficiency on the break meant that the Griff-lings could not get back in the game.

In another epic battle the Div 5 Griffins team1 got the win.

Final Score: 68-51

Scorers in double figures: Tonkin, Mockford, Scroggs, McClusky, Appleyard & L Wensley

The players and Coach Phil refused to comment on the outcome of the match. Sources within the Griffin’s playing group indicated that he was not happy with either team’s ability to execute offences. Apparently at the next training session coach Phil incorporated punishments into drills. The social committee worries that this may affect player’s pub-fitness.

Quote of the night: Featuring; Dan Harris and Scotty Guts (previously ‘Guns’ before the bulge)

Dan; “is that a love heart drawn on your arm Scott???”

Guts; “no Dan it’s a cock…”

Dan; “oh… cool, that’s much less gay”

PUB-CRAWL

In true Griffins fashion the derby was just a precursor to the DRUNKMAN pub-crawl. The crawl started at sponsor hotel the Cumberland Arms and then swept through the Colonel Light, Rosemont and finished at the Woolshed.

As with any pub-crawl there was dancing, drama and debauchery. Dan Harris had the biggest entourage, Luke Wens, the biggest hangover. Casey got on a bull and rode him like a champion. Pip Tape’s head still hurt when she got on her plane flight 2 days later. Mc-Michael (Jackson) won an epic D-floor challenge, in celebration he spent some C-Money only to later return without a shirt, but with a yiros…

Pub-crawler of the night Award had 3 nominees; Brad Pitman, Joey Elms and Mindy Vink. All nominees lasted at the woolshed until it closed at 4:30am. The winner is to be announced after all votes are counted:

Brad – attended all pubs, was part of victorious D-Floor challenge team & worked the next day

Jo – Youngest of 3 nominees, probably does not remember after midnight & used the phrase; “I make paro look goooood”

Mindy – Female, lasted longer at the strippers than Tom Alford & Female.

YOU DECIDE…

I wish all AUBC teams the best of luck for the rest of the season, I will miss all of you and I’m sad I can’t finish the season here.

All the best, See you all again next July

- Chris (C-Money) McMichael

Pre-Tournament:

Adelaide uni had put together a guy’s and a girl’s basketball team, thanks to Jeremy Cotterill (Unigames organiser/recruitment officer/bad-ass player). Unfortunately with some past players having graduated both teams had not played together however with the players we did have, we were confident we could compete.

Training sessions consisted of 3 Sunday sessions where there was more talk of how awesome unigames is, rather than actual basketball (see write-ups for 2009 and 2010).

To prepare for CUG appropriately and to uphold Adelaide Uni’s reputation 5 of our players went on a ‘bonding’ (pronounced boozing) trip to the Pt Augusta Races the day before the tournament started. A 6am wakeup ensured Alex, Chris, Jeremy, Kate & Henry (and Chloe AUG2010)made it to the tournament on time despite the 3 hour drive!

In a boost for AU morale the Griffin’s own Kelly Penn was selected out of hundreds of applicants to be the competition manager. In his acceptance speech Mr Penn indicated that he would bring the same structure and control to CUG basketball as he does in his classroom.

Game Time…

Women AU vs UniSA

Because only 2 teams entered the women’s side of the tournament AU and USA were to play a best of 3 series for a spot at AUG. UniSA fielded a side boosted with some sharp shooters whereas AU went for a combination of size, skill, good looks, and personality!

Game 1:

The first half was a tough battle but the USA shooters blew the game open. At half time the Griffins were faced with a 24 point deficit. This however did not faze the girls as they started their comeback in the 3^rd. Stifling defence by Lara, Hajnal and Morgan locked down the keyway allowing Grace and Claire & Alex to run.

The Griffins continued to get better as they became more comfortable playing together. The comeback continued with some power drives from Jackie who kept the scoreboard ticking and got USA in foul trouble.

Unfortunately the comeback fell just short with the girls going down by 6.
Game 2:

Playing on the second day of a tournament means you know how to get to the stadium and you know something about the team you are playing…However it does not prepare you for a truck, backhoe and 5 council workers digging a hole in the middle of the Main North and Montague intersection! Needless to say some of the girls had to hurry into the stadium – Jackie was especially hurried because she also had to deal with a cop who insisted that her car stereo was too loud.

In the best of 3 series this game was a must win for the girls. Unfortunately UniSA came out with the same touch that got them up in the first game. The Griffins struggled to score in the first half but their effort and desperation paid off in the way of USA fouls.

The girls had the tough task of making up 16 points in the second half. The Griffins continued to take good shots but the tight UniSA rings gave us no love. Desperation from past unigamer’s Kate, Alex and Lara indicated how much this game meant to the girls…however it was not
meant to be… despite 3 UniSA players fouling out again our comeback was too late as UniSA took out the Women’s competition consequently qualifying for the Gold Coast.

In a post match interview assistant coach Mindy Vink summed up the game, “Bugger…I guess I’m playing women’s footy then.”

Game 3:

Although the comp was a dead rubber game 3 gave the girls a chance to enjoy themselves and get their money’s worth (sort-of) from the tournament (for $55 we should at least get some complementary bandaids).

Memorable moments included:

• Kate Richard’s tomahawk dunk off a Hajnal Nagy full court ally-oop lob.
• Alex Glen’s sudden change in skin colour (actually happened)
• Blind half-court hook shots from Claire Kerr & Jackie Mac(left handed)
• Lara McCarthy and Morgan Tolly intimidating the Flinders Uni Men so much that they wet themselves (actually happened)
• Grace Morcom not being everywhere on the court at the same time (Jumper anyone???)

AU Men

Unfortunately gun recruit Adrian had been admitted to hospital over the weekend with a cyst in his calf. This meant that 2010 unigamer Henry Tieman was recalled to the side. Henry had single-handedly sunk the Griffins U23 team 2 weeks previous.

Game 1 vs Flinders Uni

Flinders Uni was a last minute addition to the men’s comp. Fortunately they did not bring the same team that played SA Challenge in 2010. Game one gave the Griffins a chance to play together. Playing together is very valuable and possibly is what hurt the girls.

Unlike USA the Griffins did not press Flinders for the whole game rather played a respectable 2-3 zone but still won 100+ to<30
Brad Burgan possibly set a AU Unigames scoring record (Will correct this if it is wrong) with ~50 points in the game including 18 points in the last quarter.

Game 2 vs UniSA

UniSA was our main competitor for the tournament. The results of our two games were irrelevant as there was a grand-final to be played between our two teams. However beating the Maverick and his Merry Men in an Intervarsity comp is always a beautiful thing!

UniSA had put together a quality team and the Griffins would have to play very well to beat them. The Griffin’s game plan was to try and tire the USA starters as much as possible while using our full 9 man rotation. The Griffins got an early lead thanks to Toby’s sharp shooting, powerful post work from Tyson and Alford O-Boards. The game was a series of runs by both teams. The game was even at 3 quarter time but UniSA took the last quarter by 7.

Game 3 vs Flinders Uni

This game ended in a similar way to game 1 however this game was Michael’s. Another Griffin’s ~50 point haul indicated why
Michael should not only be playing social ball…hint-hint…

Interesting facts:

1. Michael’s sister played on the USA women’s team and shot with the same accuracy – surely you could have left her at home or something mate!
2. Tyson’s girlfriend is a USA Unigames veteran – we won’t hold that against him though.
3. The AU Men’s team has; 1 PhD, 2 Masters Degrees, and 5 Engineers

Game 4 vs USA

The depth of the AU team showed in this game. The 9 player AU rotation was too much for UniSA when their bench was brought into the game. Good shooting by Mockford was important for the Griffins, Jeremy showed his suspended form is as good as ever (beating up on the USA point guard) and Chris McMichael made a jump shot!!!!!!

AU won by 15 thus finishing top after the minor rounds. This did not matter however because the final was coming up next.

Grand Final vs USA

As expected both teams came out hard and scrappy basketball was played for the first quarter. A late run by UniSA put them up going into the second.

UniSA dropped back into a very tight zone defence however AU could not take advantage of this because nothing was going in. Tight defence kept AU within reach. The Griffins finished the half having run hard at UniSA who had only made one substitution and had picked up fouls on
important players. Despite this the griffins were down 40-25.

The Griffins continued to run at UniSA and picked up the defensive pressure in the hope that they would tire. Whenever AU made a run so would USA shortly after. The 3^rd quarter ended without the Griff’s getting any closer…

In the final term AU left everything out on the court. Henry’s hustle, strong rebounding by undersized players and flat-out defe….

…wait…

was that a bird…

a plane…

no it was BRAD BURGAN with the MOST EPIC REJECTION EVER WITNESSED!!!!!!

The Griffins unfortunately lost the game BUT OMG…THAT BLOCK!!!!!!!!!!

The UniSA point guard (Southern ABA) came back on the court after sitting due to his 3 fouls. A UniSA intercept resulted in what looked like a certain layup to him… Not if Super Brad had anything to do with it.

With UniSA running in numbers to the basket everything went slow motion (except for Brad).

The ball was picked up (Brad took 3 steps in this time) and the layup steps were started.

As the ball was released SuperBrad took off and off and off. With the ball hanging in the air on the right side of the basket Brad wound up his best volleyball spike.

As the score bench went to put down 2 more USA points Brad smiled, winked at the cheerleaders (now sitting 3 meters below him) and then EXPLODED THE BALL WITH HIS HAND.

The ball hit the back wall at the height of the ring and had so much force behind it that Structural Engineer Henry Tieman had to check if it was still safe to play in the stadium.

First hand Witness Accounts:

UniSA Captain: I think Brad just took my virginity… and I was on the bench…

Tom Alford: He actually jumped over me to block that!

Lebron James: I wish I could do that in the last quarter…

Kelly Penn: OUCH

Brad “Block” Burgan: Who’s your Daddy ???

Chris McMichael could not be interviewed because he KO’s himself on the roof after involuntary jumping from the bench.

On a serious note;

We are all very disappointed that there will be not AU team represented in the basketball this year. We will try harder to put together an even better team next year and we would like to see you all out again.

Thankyou everyone who was part of the CUG teams. I ensure you that you will have an awesome time at Unigames no matter what sport you play and it is something you have to do before you leave Uni (what will you remember once uni is over???)

We wish UniSA the best of luck at Gold Coast AUG and congratulate them on qualifying.

Go Griffins

After extensive research the AUBC historians have found that
AUBC rookie Josiah Elms is a direct descendent of King Josiah of Judah; (ironic
seeing that he plays for the Lutheran football club…?)

Wednesday May 24^th was the date of the much
anticipated third matchup between the Woodville Warriors and the AUBC Griffins
Div 3 youth league teams. Woodville was the only team to have beaten the
griffins twice. Although always in the games the Griffins had never put 4
quarters together to get a win.

This time they would be playing for top spot and for
revenge. The Griffs fielded a team of 9 in order to qualify players for finals
and would need them all to keep up with the hectic pace of U23 games.

Pregame:

Although supposedly 9:15 start division 2 youth league was apparently
more important and resulted in the Griffins starting their warm-up at 9:40… The
YL boys strengthened their case for being the most athletic AUBC team with josh
hopps, Stu Renigers and Rich Medhurst all getting up and throwing down (in the warm-ups…)

Continuing the Bible references:

“Book of (few) Numbers” (First Quarter)

In typical youth league fashion the first quarter was played
at break neck speed with little effect on the scoreboard… In a frustrating and
uneventful quarter the griffins ended 2 points up with scores being 5-7.

“Book of King (Josiah)” (Second Quarter)

In their previous 2 encounters the Warriors had troubled the
Griffs with backcourt pressure and a 1-2-2 trap not this time though! The
patient backcourt play by The Megastar and Appleyard and aware movement by
Alfie Alford and Stu Renigers enabled the King of Judah to hurt the Warriors on
the scoreboard.

Layups and good passing made the ‘Worriers’ drop back to a
zone defense. This however did not phase the Griffins. Josiah continued to
attack gaps and stifling defense lead to fast break offence.

After a rainbow layup from the King off a C-Money dime the AUBC
took the second quarter by 6 and were primed to pull away.

“The Book of the Twelve (point lead)” (Third Quarter)

The Griffins extended rotation proved to be useful in
continuing the offensive pace and hustle defense. Jez Cotterill was getting no
love from the refs, called for a charging foul as he bulldozed his opponent who
was standing in the restricted area. Although the Griffins did not dominate the
quarter they did manage to get out to a 12 point lead at one stage before the Warriors
started their fight back. The Griffins went into the last quarter with an 8
point lead.

“The Book of (Alfie the) Ruth(less)” (Fourth Quarter)

In past encounters the Warriors had run over the Griffins in
the last through consecutive 3 point plays…

Although the Griffins started well we could not halt the inevitable.
With 5 minutes to go Woodville came alive with threes and frustrating layups. Before
long the scores were level…and remained level for a number of possessions.

Eventually with 47 seconds to play and scored tied at 33
each Tom Alford was set two staggered picks from C-Money and Brad (the
enforcer) Pitman and took the ball to the rack. Three collapsing Woodville defenders
could not stop the left handed finger roll as Alfie put AUBC up by 2 points. 21
seconds of intense defense ended with Chris McMichael in a Warrior headlock and
the ball locked to his chest. The ball was inbounded and time expired giving
the Griffins victory and top spot on the ladder.

The Forestville GM was overheard complaining
to his Scouts; “damn if we knew that Josiah Elms had such good lineage we would
have traded something for his clearance… I hear the Griffins have access to
lots of Judo mats and thongs…?”

Tom alford; “Well that makes up for that 3 i made in the last derby to go up by one… f***ing Kel and his circus shot”

Arguably the best performance from the Under 23’s team ended in a good win. With
8 wins and 2 losses the Griffs are top of the ladder and have the best defense
in the comp. With some easier teams coming up the boys should stay on top for a
while.

Woodville Warriors 33 def by Adelaide University Griffins 35
Josiah Elms 14, Chris McMichael 10, Tom Alford 2
****The New Griffins players need nicknames! With Tanunda coming
up we need some thoughts for:

Luke Wensley (Can’t just be ‘Wens’ – Watt has that tied up…)?????????

Josh Hopps (‘Hopps’ is very apt)??????????????

Hamish Appleyard (‘david’ not afraid to get in the face of ‘goliaths’)??????????

Josiah Elms (something biblical)????????????

James Watson (Megastars Entourage)???????

The 2011 Div 5 North team are a motley squad from all different walks of life, universities and pop culture background.  The team features a backcourt consisting of sharp shooting veteran guard Scott, and Jerry Stackhouse-esq streaky sharp shooting guard Kel.  Also the team has two members from the 2010 Div 4 All-Trendsetting First Team – Brian and Chris.  Add to this Engineers Dave and Rosco, and the men that hold down the middle are John aka “Dikembe” & Matthew aka “Scalabrini”.

The Griffins started well with John immediately asserting his dominance on the game, with finger waving blocked shots, running the fast break, and being a monster on the boards….John was doing it all …..until fatigue set in.  Wens came into the game and made an impact straight away…some might call that an “impact player”, with a big 3 and another jumpshot…not to mention a sweet pass to kel under the hoop.  The Griffins took the quarter 15 to 11.

 The second quarter was where the Griffins really asserted their dominance, outscoring South 19 to 8.  It was a terrific team effort…but we’ll give all the credit to Brian “2nd Quarter” Ho.  Brian had 8 second quarter points & got it done on the defensive end, from the field, and was even perfect from the free throw line making 4 out of 4 from the stripe!….What was most pleasing in this quarter was the ability  of the griffins to get to the foul line, making 7 out of 10 from the free throw line ( John with 0 for 2 and Kel 1 for 2).

 The third quarter was a monumental mess.   South had adjusted their game plan…..AUBC were overconfident and causual in their approach.  Fortunately Scott started to find some touch around the hoop.  We all know accuracy on the rings at the dome can be a problem (due to their lack of maintenance), and it took 2 quarters of play to adjust for sharp shooting Scotty Buckets, but when he made a few we all knew he would be good for the rest of the game.  Incidentally, Scotty has requested his nickname to be changed from Scotty Buckets….the name in honour of former NBA player Ricky Buckets, to be changed to “The Microwave”.  When asked for the reason, he claimed that when he heats up…he heats up quick! Zing! And it also may have something to do with Ricky Buckets playing in kazbakistan or somewhere no one knows about…but doing well I’m sure.

South Outscored Uni 16 to 14 this quarter, and one could tell they were starting to feel confident…going in to the last quarter the score was 35 to 48…if south were playing the 6ers this would be considered a winnable game!

 Ok so fast forward to the last…and not so young anymore Dave Scroggs, fresh from graduating University and an overseas study trip to America (apparently a social experiment to study Charlie Sheen).  No so young anymore Dave looks sharp, and to be honest has come back much in the same form as he left… in his words “winning”….and apparently he only knows one speed…. “Go”.  After a few Sheenisms and a number of slashing drives Dave made a statement in the game with back to back 3’s late in the final quarter.  This was the straw that broke the proverbial Panther’s back…and it didnt help when Dave was heard to yell at Souths bench  “I got tiger blood man…take that you earth worms”.

Chris was hit with a Tech foul for abusing the refs after being hit by an illegal screen.  Does anyone know if the drinks rule (carton penalty) is still in place?.

The griffins stormed away with the last quarter 24 to 7……it was a Griffins avalanche, with Kel steadily running the show.  In the post game media session where Coach Phil was interviewed by Snapper and Bill,  when asked the question of Kel’s impact on the game he was heard to respond “Kel is one of the true marvels of the game, if he continues to play like this he’s going to replace Jason Smith on the NBL-FIBA Logo”.

 Good win, any win by 30 points is a good win!.

Mind you when you play against a team with only 1 offense (albeit quite effective), being get the ball to the big guy…and u can’t find a way to defend that …theres something wrong…so I’m glad we did win! a loss wouldve been demorilising!

 All in all it was a good team effort, a good scoring spread…the guys just need to play with more discipline….

AUBC Griffins -72

The Big Wens led all scorers with 14 points and consistently scored all game, followed by Scott on 12, John on 11, Kel and Brian on 10, Dave with 8 final quarter points, and Chris with 7 (5 of those from the free throw line)

 Defeated

 South Adelaide 2 – 42

Free Throws – 13 for 21 (61.9 %)

Dave 2 for 4

John 1 for 4

Chris 5 for 5 (Well Done Chris!)

Kel 2 for 4

Brian 4 for 4 (Well Done Brian!)

A good turnout of 35 new players were involved with 30 AUBC members in games of mixed 4on4, bump-championship and 3-Point shootouts. Food and drinks were on offer with those heading to Soundwave making the most of the $2 beers.

Men’s

Bump Champion – Luke Wensley

3 Point Champion – Kelly Penn

Women’s

Bump Champion – Kirah-Lee Thomas

3 Point Champion – Kate Richards

First Quarter:

With the first quarter about to start Toby and Chris arrived, Toby gave his bags to Chris and immediately took his position ready for the jump…

The extra warm up time and the home court advantage helped United Districts as they got out to a fast 12-2 start against the Adelaide University 2-3 zone. Unfortunately things did not improve much from there. Simple errors and an inability to score resulted in a 28-12 first quarter belting

Second Quarter:

Due to United’s impressive 3 point shooting (10 for the half) the Griffins were forced to switch to man-to-man defense which did disrupt the United offence however they continued to score. The steroid enhanced United players provided problems for our undersized backcourt and short bench.  Due to our inability to defend the perimeter/offensive rebounding and United’s fast break the Griffins again lost the quarter badly. However there was a glimmer of hope. The Griffins scored 7 straight points to finish the half down 57-28

Third Quarter:

Now that the Griffins had had time to warm up and become accustomed to playing basketball at Morphetvale things started to turn around…

The Griffins offence started to get looks that hadn’t been there all night, Tough defense dried up United’s 3’s and cheap points. Some free flowing basketball brought Tuz and Toby into the game.

It wasn’t until Jason Siebert was bulldozed in the post that the Griffins took off. The resulting injured elbow and a typical no call from the ref got Ian Baxter going. Ian became a rebounding force in the second half. This opened up Toby to drop a casual 13 points in the third quarter.

The Griffins were on the comeback winning the quarter by 5. Score: 75-51

Fourth Quarter: Welcome to the Toby, Tuz and Ghost show!!!

The third quarter win triggered something in the Griffins and they came out ready to play in the fourth. Despite having played almost all the game the boys stuck to the man defense and simple offence. However no one could have predicted what would happen during the next 10 fully timed minutes.

Adelaide Uni suddenly remembered how to play D and how to shoot. The first 2 minutes resulted in 10 unanswered points to the Griffins! And so it continued; Silky assists from Tuz, sharp shooting from the Ghost, circus shots from Toby all complimented by strong rebounding from Money and Baxter. Suddenly with 2:30 to go in the game the Griffins were within 6.

The Eastern Mavericks Div 2 side was cheering on the sidelines, United were shaken and the Griffins were looking sharp. Another score from Toby brought the deficit to 4. A late call in the next play from the ref resulted in Ian fouling out. This brought in a sore Jason Siebert. United’s bonus free throws put it out to 6 again.

Unfortunately the Griffins and United went basket for basket after that and the game ended 86-80 despite the Griffins valiant effort.

Postgame:

Tuz’ sharp passing and decision making was the catalyst for Toby’s 34 point second half (19 point last quarter) and the Ghost coming out to play. Those three combined for all 30 last quarter points compared to United’s 11. Jason and Baxter had huge games in the paint and C-Money will be remembered for not fouling out and almost missing two free throws.

An incredible fight back from the Griffins shows that the Div 2 side can match it with the competition however having a full team would have made all the difference!

TL 34, Ghost 18, Tuz 12, Jase 6, Bax 4, Money 1

The week after the Griffins beat Sturt’s second side who we beat (but forfeited to) in last years D3 finals. This time it was us who put them out of finals… ‘aint payback a bitch !!!

The Reserve men finished the summer season 6^th out of 13

7wins

5losses

116%

2 games clear of 7^th place

One week after O-Week we will welcome all our new members with a club 3on3 competiton, 3 point shootout and a ‘Bump-off’.

The 2011 AGM will be held at 1:00pm where new commitee positions will be awarded. It is important for all current members to attend the AGM.

But the festivities do not finish there… in true AUBC style a post-AGM ‘pub-sit’ will occur at one of our sponsors insitiutions.

We hope to see you out supporting your club on Saturday March 5

Where?

Thebarton Training gym

Building 5 Winwood st Thebarton

***Soundwave Festival is happening that day in Bonython park so be prepared for a few delays.