Oilers’ slick efforts secure finals

The Dunsborough Oilers nabbed fourth spot on the Bunbury Basketball Association A-Men’s table on Friday night.

In their inaugural BBA campaign, the Oilers won on forfeit from Aces Sky in the final round, while Tornadoes Red were blown out of finals contention with a 73-51 loss to their brother side Black.

Seemingly in control of their finals destiny for weeks, an untimely bye and 69-65 defeat to the Oilers quickly flipped the situation on its ear.

Black burst from the blocks early on an 8-2 run, with Jason Smith finding his groove offensively for the league leaders.

With the deficit threatening to blow out beyond double digits, Red slowly worked its way back into the game late in the opening quarter, bridging to the gap to four points.

It was the closest they would get for the remainder of the game as Black put their foot down on the gas pedal – putting the game beyond doubt early into the third term.

Black had five players hit double digits on the scoresheet – a trend which could give rival defences some trouble in the finals.

Third-placed Aces Sky completed its finals preparation with a comfortable 82-47 win over the Eaton Eagles, with Wade Hitchcock dropping 27 points.

The Eagles, who have been unwavering in their endeavour despite a challenging run of results, hung tough for a quarter and a half, before Sky iced the result with a 21-7 offensive run which effectively ended the contest.

In A-Women action, the Oilers completed a memorable regular season with a comprehensive 78-51 win over Aces Sky, which gave them a boost heading into Friday night’s first semi-final showdown against Tornadoes Black.

Beige Harris, Adele and Dana East all put up solid numbers for the victors.

Bunbury Basketball Association: semi-finals (played on Friday night)

A-Men: 7.30pm (3rd) Aces Sky v (4th) Dunsborough Oilers; 9pm (1st) Bulls v (2nd) Tornadoes Black.

A-Women: 7.30pm (1st) Tornadoes Black v (2nd) Dunsborough Oilers; 9pm (3rd) Tornadoes Red v (4th) Aces Sky.