Category: UBL

Bailey Nathan was brilliant at both ends of the floor in the Waatu's thriller against UNSW - Photo provided by AU

Alexandria thriller consigns Waatu to fate of the finishers

The Waatu Men needed to get their roadtrip off to a winning start to avoid being caught up in the fate of the finishers. With Waatu and UNSW closely matched on the ladder – both would’ve fancied their chances to secure a win.  

Minus offensive generators in Emil Kourani and Darcy McNamara – the must win contest started shakily with Jacob Corry (14 points and seven rebounds) and Angus Skrbinsek making multiple plays early to rattle the away side. Both Bailey Nathan and Ayual Garang made some nice finishes at the rim from a collection of spin moves and outside hits but the homeside through Alec Ryan and James Arthur kept answering accordingly. It took Garang with the offensive rebound and reverse layup finish to have the Waatu in front 19-22 at the first change.

It was all Nathan to start the second as he reeled off a quick individual run of six points and along with Harry Bruce (19 points and seven rebounds) rolled the Waatu to an 0-8 start. An injury sub for the UNSW stopped momentum slightly as Corry and Ryan answered with a 10-3 run of their own bringing it back level. Bruce made some nice buckets with one over two defenders as did Nathan again. The Waatu would’ve been ahead by two baskets if not for a monster block from Yi Tan Zou on the cusp of half-time – leaving a slight lead to the Waatu 38-40 at the main break.

Another tight third term was highlighted by some more aerial work with the floater, rising jump strokes and offensive glass by-play dominating proceedings – it left it 54-50 with one to play and ladder positions on the line.

Bruce was the early instigator for the Waatu in the fourth with a powerful drive and a finished triple off some brilliant ball movement. The 6-14 run saw Bruce lead the Waatu to a handy four point lead with only 3:40 remaining. The home side answered through Arthur who made some tough shots including a triple and some fancy footwork to rip back the lead by five points with just over a minute remaining. Garang answered with a strong and1 drive which he converted. The Waatu’s defence picked up forcing a carry with 42 seconds remaining on Arthur. Bruce drove down the lane splitting two defenders to tie the scores 69-69. 

A foul on Arthur was met with anguish as he converted one free throw to leave it 70-69 with two chances left for the Waatu to win it late. Mitch Cretin hauled up the three point attempt that rimmed wide and to the left but the outstretched hands of Isaac Hampel saw him able to get one last turnaround jumper up with microseconds remaining. It went just long off the rim and the Waatu missed a golden opportunity to seal their fate but with another game the next day and results of other games now a factor – the finals race wasn’t over yet…

Arthur was the strongest contributor across four quarters with 17 points and 11 rebounds along with Ryan with 15 points and 15 rebounds. Garang was superb through this one with 25 points with three triples, 12 rebounds and Nathan made up for the absence of Kourani and McNamara with a double double of 14 points, 11 rebounds and three assists. 

After a heartbreaker the previous day and having to watch it all Darcy McNamara wasted no time at all hitting the scoreboard early in game two of the road trip – as the Waatu went bucket for bucket with a powerful USYD unit. Matthew Wacher was crafty and skillful under pressure for the home side showing off euro finishes and low spin drives. McNamara was also finding teammates like Bruce with a no-look pass that saw them up 15-17. McNamara made a tough finish and floater off the glass before USYD rolled off a quick 7-0 run through Mitchell Smith (14 points and 10 rebounds), Jake Weinstein and Chandler Skelton. A fortuitous Hampel pass that came off the hand of Wacher fell to McNamara who finished the layup on the buzzer to give them a five point lead 22-27.

It was Jonathan Woodcock (10 points and five rebounds) early in the second impacting with two quality looks inside split by McNamara’s work from outside, inside and the charity stripe. Both he and Wacher were locked in one-on-one on each other to bring it to a 45-39 scoreline at the half. McNamara already with 19 at half time having a key offensive output in the match. 

Wacher tore the game apart in the third quarter with 13 points to lead the USYD to a whopping 36-17 term well supported by Michael Yoong (19 points, fours assists and three rebounds). The Waatu’s Garang was impressive in the term too, rolling on the rim and step back triples off screens but USYD’s run of 15-0 including a Josh Pain dunk saw the margin out to 81-56 at the final change. 

McNamara’s final term was one of the few highlights for the Waatu as he grabbed 20 points in the final term including three triples with one outrageously long hit but showed his full array of skills as a scorer. The Waatu leaked as many at the other end as the entertaining finish 29-39 locked the Waatu into eighth spot with results falling their way despite a 0-2 final round.

 

Wacher was clear best across four quarters with 25 points, five assists and well ably assisted by Pain with 22 points and nine rebounds. McNamara finished with 42 points with five triples and five assists and dominated the stat line with Garang (13 points and eight rebounds) and Bruce (12 points and six rebounds) helping to keep Waatu in it in the first half. Sam Davies also produced a double double with 11 points and 12 rebounds in positive signs heading into their qualifying final.       

The re-matchup between first placed Melbourne Uni Black Angels will be intriguing as history showed us last year. The Waatu could cause the upset after nearly knocking off University of Sydney Tech in 2023 in Melbourne. 

In this UBL league we’ve seen this season – you just never know and if the three ball falls then enough points can be generated to go with the top side in the league this season.             

RD 7 Men UNSW 70 (Arthur 17, Ryan 15, Corry 14) defeated AU Waatu 69 (Garang 25, Bruce 19, Nathan 14, Hampel 8)

RD 7 Men USYD 110 (Wacher 25, Pain 22, Yoong 19) defeated AU Waatu 85 (McNamara 42, Garang 13, Bruce 12, Davies 11)

Catch the Waatu’s qualifying final against Melbourne Uni on Uni Sports TV from Wednesday 2:30pm. 

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Norwood Flames Jemima Whitton was productive across both fixtures including getting a start in the final match - Photo provided by AU

Waatu women show future promise in prideful showing

The Waatu women hung tough for a half against a well-drilled UNSW before falling in the second half 78-54 at Alexandria. It was done by committee by UNSW in their final game of their inaugural season in the league with six players reaching double figures.   

Both teams went miss for miss in the opening four minutes with Caitlin Brines (11 points) and Meaza Otto (6 points) finally opening the score for both teams respectfully. Eleanor Pinkerton was strong in the paint for the home side registering three blocks in the opening quarter. A timeout called by coach Lachlan Coppick saw the Waatu reverse the trend, reeling off a quick 0-5 run to end the term all level 15-15.    

The second stanza was a dominant start from UNSW with guard Heather Smith (10 points, seven rebounds and five assists) taking control of the contest both with ball in hand and setting up others. Alice Sabine tried to get out on the fastbreak, continuously getting able support from Georgia Winter and Jemima Whitton. Brines however continued to keep the scoreboard ticking over as the home side led 32-29 just over the Waatu at the break.

An early finish from four offensive rebounds in a row to the Waatu with Winter the benefactor was about the only glimmer in the third. UNSW through Jasinta Haydardedeoglu (12 points and six rebounds) and team piled on a 22-10 term and was compounded by Waatu centre Petra Rychtarcikova fouling out to leave the Waatu small under the basket.  

With the damage seemingly done – the Waatu played freely running up a 0-7 run through Sabine and Otto to open the fourth. The home side resettled through Emily Nguyen and Haydardedeoglu sealing the win with plenty of minutes to play.

Nguyen led all scorers with 13 points and nine rebounds (four offensive) and along with Pinkerton with 12 points, 18 rebounds (seven offensive) and a huge seven blocks set up the win for the home side. Winter was terrific for the Waatu with 17 points and five rebounds as was Sabine with 13 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and steals and Whitton who just missed a double double with eight points, four steals and 10 rebounds. 

The Waatu brought what they produced in the first half for longer the next day as they took on USYD again one of the top sides of season 2024 at USYD Stadium.      

Against a powerful side coach Lachlan Coppick threw Whitton into the starting five and it paid dividends early at both ends of the floor. Alex Kayrouz, so impressive to watch in 2023 opened proceedings and was well supported by Lauryn Walker – a Sophia Hanna cut and score triggered an early timeout to Coppick and the Waatu. Sabine relished the moment, getting a transition score then cutting through the key for another then shortly followed it up with a hard drive on a scoop layup. She also just missed another transition layup on the buzzer of quarter time with 16-12 the final scoreline for the quarter.

Waatu burst out of the blocks in the second with Petra Rychartickova powering up for two, Winter making a corner triple and Sophie Hampel making a scoop layup finish to leave it 18-19. The Renee Garlepp coached side put the onus on Caitlyn Martin and Holly Wills (15 points with three triples) but equally impressive was Sabine with some and1 finishes, offensive glass work with soft touch finishes that kept the Waatu in it 31-29. The first half was arguably the most impressive of the season.

Both teams hit back at each other early in the third with the Ws of Whitton and Winter keeping the Waatu in touch. It took Martin again and Wills triple to put breathing space between them and the Waatu that refused to go away 56-48 at end of three.

The opening two and a half minutes might have finally broken the resistance with Wills hitting  consecutive triples and Alex Oliver (11 points and eight rebounds) not getting any smaller as the game rolled along to push USYD out to 64-51. Winter hit a huge long bomb but Martin and Kayrouz’s class shone through in the final term with the latter collecting nine points. The final scoreline 89-59 was not reflective of the strong three quarter effort by the Waatu in their final game of the season.

Martin was all control at the point position with 16 points, 10 assists and six steals with Kayrouz finishing with 15 points, four assists and steals. The complete games of Sabine (18 points, 14 rebounds with seven offensive and fours assists) and Winter (21 points with six triples and seven rebounds) kept the Waatu in it for a long period of time.

While the Waatu women’s season finishes it produced the strongest performance of a UBL campaign in their short existence in the league. Next year looms as a big game changer with plenty of talent entering their first year of university with many likely to be back for another swing at it in UBL 2025. 

RD 7 Women UNSW 78 (Nguyen 13, Haydardedeoglu, Pinkerton 12, Brines 11, Bidwell, Smith 10) defeated AU Waatu 54 (Winter 17, Sabine 13, Whitton 8)

RD 7 Women USYD 89 (Martin 16, Kayrouz, Wills 15, Walker 14, Oliver 11) defeated AU Waatu 54 (Winter 21, Sabine 18, Whitton 7)

Catch all of the Waatu’s Women’s games from the season on Uni Sports TV

NEW – PITCH TO THE PUBLIC 

It takes 4 hours a week to write, research and produce our content but we want to write extra content this next few months so we thought we’d pitch to the public

Four new $24 Shotclock subscribers will have one of two pieces produced on the topics of

“SA Schools shine on Gold Coast” (Australian Schools Championships 2024)

“The Powerhouses of SA School Basketball” (Looking at the last five to ten years of school basketball)

Eight new $24 Shotclock subscribers will have both pieces done for production

Please DM if you’d like to support another way than subscription

See if you can provide the assist we need to tell the South Australian Basketball story

All Episodes of the SA Shotclock available on podcasting platforms in the coming months