The Perth Wheelcats are the 2007 National Wheelchair Basketball League (NWBL) champions after defeating the West Sydney Razorbacks 100-63 in the Grand Final at the Herb Graham Recreation Centre in Perth yesterday.
The Wheelcats (WA), Razorbacks (NSW), Wollongong Rollerhawks (NSW) and Wentworthville Wheelkings (NSW) competed for the National title in a four-team finals weekend.
The Dandenong Rangers (VIC), Brisbane Spinning Bullets (QLD) and Adelaide Thunder (AT) missed the finals.
Led by Australian National team stars Brad Ness, Justin Eveson, Shaun Norris, Michael Hartnett and coach Ben Ettridge, the Wheelcats cruised to the Minor Premiership on the back of a perfect 12-and-0 home and away season before beating the Rollerhawks in the major semi-final on Friday night, to progress to the Championship decider.
Ness (pictured right), Eveson and Norris all starred in the final with Eveson falling just two assists short of an amazing triple-double in tallying 28 points, 20 rebounds and 8 assists while Norris racked up 20 points, 11 assists and 9 rebounds – falling just one rebound short of a triple-double.
Ness contributed a 19-point, 17 rebound and 7 assist double-double in support.
For the Razorbacks, four-time Paralympian Troy Sachs did manage to register a triple-double – a gallant 17-point, 19 rebound and 11 assist performance.
Wollongong defeated Wentworthville, 93-82, in the playoff for third.
The NWBL also named the 2007 season All-Star Five, MVP and award recipients:
All-Star Five: Shaun Norris (Perth), Daryl Tayor (Adelaide), Shaun Groenewegan (Dandenong), Tristan Knowles (Wollongong), Andrew Flavell (Wollongong).
MVP: Shaun Norris (Perth)
Finals MVP: Justin Eveson (Perth)
Coach of the Year: Ben Ettridge (Perth)
To the Razorbacks credit, they lead 25-24 at quarter time until the experience and skill across the board from Perth saw them win the second term, 29-13, the third quarter, 25-11 and the final quarter 22-14 to register the dominant 37-point win.
During the semi and preliminary final there were some remarkable performances, these included:
Ness and Eveson tallying 29 points and 13 rebounds and 28 points and 20 rebounds respectively against Wollongong in the Major semi-final with Brett Stibners netting 31 points for the Rollerhawks.
Sachs posting an incredible 18-point, 21 rebound and 12 assist triple-double and team mate Darren Skuse contributing 23 points and 16 rebounds for West Sydney against Wentworthville in the Minor semi-final.
Naoki Yasu tallying 30 points and 10 rebounds for Wentworthville in the Bronze Medal playoff against Wollongong.
Major semi-final:
Perth Wheelcats 84 (B. Ness 29, J. Eveson 28, S. Norris 17) def
Wollongong RollerHawks 64 (B. Stibners 31, T. Knowles 10) Box score
Minor semi-final:
West Sydney Razorbacks 84 (D. Skuse 23, T. Sachs 18, G. Mizens 15) def
Wentworthville Wheelkings 74 (B. Latham 21, J. Simon 20, K. Gauci 12) Box score
Preliminary final:
West Sydney Razorbacks 93 (T. Sachs 33, N. Taylor 27, D. Skuse 23) def
Wollongong Rollerhawks 87 (T. Knowles 31, S. Russell 16, B. Stibners 15) Box score
Bronze Medal Game:
Wollongong Rollerhawks 93 (T. Knowles 26, B. Stibners 18) def
Wentworthville Wheelkings 82 (N. Yasu 30, B. Latham 19, K. Gauci 10) Box score
Championship Game:
Perth Wheelcats 100 (J. Eveson 28, S. Norris 20, B. Ness 19) def
West Sydney Razorbacks 63 (N. Taylor 20, T. Sachs 17, G. Mizens 8) Box score