Bunbury Basketball: Bulls Maroon pull off comeback to win men’s premiership, Aces Sky storm home in women’s

Bulls Maroon have pulled off a stunning last-quarter comeback to crown themselves the Bunbury Basketball Association’s premiers. Bulls Maroon took on Tornadoes Red in the Bunbury Basketball Association’s 2021/22 men’s A-grade grand final on Friday at the South West Sports Centre, with spectators able to watch a live stream of the action amid restrictions on community sport spectators. The contest was evenly matched from the outset with both teams seemingly matching each other at every opportunity. Although the Bulls managed a three-point advantage at quarter-time, Tornadoes soon stepped up and took the lead during the second term, leading 48-43 at half-time. While the Tornadoes built on their advantage to continue leading 72-68 at three-quarter-time, the Bulls rallied together at the best possible time to pull off a comeback with the Tornadoes hot on their tail. The contest came down to the wire with the Bulls trailing the Tornadoes by just one point for several minutes until the Bulls stormed home to win the premiership 100-97, with Rhys Barrett being named the match’s MVP. In the women’s competition, Aces Sky held off Tornadoes Red to take out the grand final 70-49, with Aces’ Jaide Britton named the match’s MVP. Aces Sky led from the outset to build up a 16-10 lead at quarter-time and despite increasing defensive pressure from the Tornadoes, maintained their lead at 31-17 at half-time. Despite the Tornadoes making an effort to bridge the gap to trail 45-34 at three-quarter-time, Aces Sky soon took control of the match and pulled off the 21-point victory. Season award presentations were later conducted at the South West Sports Centre on Tuesday with Tornadoes Red’s Caleb Van De Grind and Bulls’ Adele East each named MVPs for the season while Aces Sky’s Thomas Smith and Tornadoes Black’s Ebony Bilcich were runner-up MVPs. Both of the winning MVPs were also named scoring champions with Van De Grind achieving 531 total points for Tornadoes Red while East managed 439 total points in the women’s competition for the Bulls. Bulls Gold’s Tanner Vogel and Aces Navy Grace Adams were each named the Rising Stars in the men’s and women’s competitions, respectively, while Darryl Fishwick was named Referee of the Year. Van De Grind, Thomas Smith, Travis Durnin, Leigh Rickwood-Pitt, Kade Szyszka and Michael Lay were named All Stars for the men’s competition, while East, Bilcich, Emilija Lewis, Abbey Hall, Cian Parsons, Karinda Farrant and Jasmine Barrett were named All Stars for the women’s competition.