Basketball: Duo shared court with legends

Two Bunbury men will reminisce about the time they won a basketball championship with some greats of the game from WA this weekend.

Stan Willis and Gavin Hayres were just 17 when they played alongside former NBA player Luc Longley and Perth Wildcat championship-winning player Andrew Vlahov.

The pair was part of the under-18 WA team which travelled to Queensland in 1985 and won the State's first national basketball championship.

This weekend the team will hold a 30-year reunion to celebrate defeating a confident New South Wales in the grand final, 73-71. Hayres was arguably the most influential player on the court that day, stealing the ball with 25 seconds to go and scoring off a lay up to give WA the win.

Hayres said he does not remember much from the famous game.

"We were just busting our guts playing defence," he said.

"It was all a bit of a blur."

Willis, who was the captain of the side, said he remembered the team putting on the full court press when Hayres managed to steal the ball and hit the winning shot.

Willis said Longley and Vlahov were already on their way to being big basketball stars during the championships.

"Luke had grown so much, he was not that mobile," he said.

"He was at the AIS at the time, I think he joined us with just two weeks to go before the championship.

"Andrew was just really strong."

Hayres said the team which won the championship was not overly reliant though on the two future champions of WA basketball.

"Even though we had the two stars, everyone carried their weight," he said.

Hayres said he remembered himself and Willis preparing for this championship campaign for almost three years.

"We trained really hard - Stan and I," he said.