Ettridge thankful for faith from Wolves
The Wanneroo Wolves have ended an 18-year drought with a thrilling five-point Grand Final victory and coach Ben Ettridge says it is fantastic reward to everyone who has worked to bring success to the long-suffering club.
The Wolves beat Total Connections Perry Lakes Hawks 88-83 in the men’s State Basketball League Grand Final at the WA Basketball Centre on Saturday night.
In front of a boisterous sell-out crowd, the game was in the balance right up to the final buzzer, but a Tony Pearman basket and a crucial defensive rebound from Grand Final MVP Greg Hire to secure the Wolves their second championship.
Ettridge said winning the title in his first season as head coach was a fantastic feeling.
"It’s amazing. I'm so proud of my boys, proud of the club, they’ve supported me as rookie coach … this team has been together for a while I’m just very very proud of them," he said.
"It's just phenomenal that they’ve stuck around they’ve hung in, the club could have just said that the SBL wasn’t worth it but they just keep supporting it and committed to it and that’s what it takes. It's just great."
The Wolves trailed by nine late in the third quarter and were having huge problems offensively, but Ettridge said he never gave up hope.
"I knew if we stuck to our process we would get the job done," he said.
"The boys didn’t fault every time out we knew we were going to come back so you know great effort. Well done to them, they deserve so much credit."
Veteran big man Damian Matacz, who had 15 points and six rebounds, said the title win was 'indescribable'.
"It’s just fantastic obviously it’s been a while coming for some of us older guys who have been round the club for a while … yeah it’s just hard to explain how much it means to us," he said.
"It was a bit scary times but I guess after game three against Willetton, when we came back from 20 points down, we knew we had the confidence.
"We stuck to our gameplan and slowly chipped away and it paid dividends." Matacz said the phenomenal performance of Hire, who had 31 points and 28 rebounds, played a huge role in Wanneroo's win.
"It was the icing on the cake. He deserves it. Not only is he a fantastic bloke and he does a lot around the club and really leads our team no by what he does on the court but also off it … it tops off a fantastic year for him."
Article by Adam McBride at the WA Basketball Centre
Photos by Helen Theoharakis (Hoop Shots)
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