Friday, 31st July, 2009

The Rollers are 2-0 with wins over Canada and Japan in the World Challenge at the State Sports Centre in Sydney. Tonight, they face a tough Great Britain side as they look to guarantee their place in the Gold medal game tomorrow.

WheelKings Bill Latham and Jeremy Doyle played very well for the Rollers in the 66-37 win over Canada in the tournament opener on Wednesday night. The margin of the win doesn't reflect what a tough game it was as Australia struggled to find their flow, leading just 28-22 at the half. The Rollers really tightened up the defence in the third quarter restricting the Canadians to 7 points with JD contributing some terrific D. Australia were up 14 going into the final term and Bill quickly iced the game with 9 of his team-high 13 points in just 6 minutes. 

Yesterday's game against Japan was an easier affair as the Rollers jumped to a 25-9 lead at the end of the first quarter. They were never challenged after that opening burst and ran out winners 83-41. JD was rested for the game and Bill was relatively quiet as Ness and Eveson blew the game open early.

Tonight's game sees WheelKings import Jon Pollock lead his Great Britain team against the Aussies. The British lads got off to a good start by beating Japan on Wednesday 64-54 behind Pollock's tremendous 22 point, 8 rebound, 8 assist effort.

However, they were upset by the Canadians last night 63-50 after going into the 4th quarter up by 5. Canada piled on 27 points to 9 in the final term to overcome a stunned British team. Pollock had a game-high 26 points but it was no consolation for a devastating loss. Great Britain will now have to beat Australia to have a chance of making the tournament final, presuming Canada beats Japan in the following game.

In the unlikely event that the British beat the Aussies, there will be a countback between the 3 teams as they'll all have a 2-1 record. Because Australia beat Canada by 29 and Canada beat Great Britain by just 13, a win of any magnitude would put Great Britain in the final on points scored for and against between the 3 teams.

Great Britain has the strongest motivation in tonight's climactic game but it will still be a big ask for them to pull off the win based on their tournament form.

Boxscores and pictures can be found on the tournament website http://www.basketball.net.au/index.php?id=728