The Roller Hawks found a new gear over the weekend, claiming three wins in the final round of the National Wheelchair Basketball League's regular season. However, the Wollongong side insist they can find another level or two before the finals commence in Darwin in a fortnight's time.
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The Roller Hawks accounted for Darwin (92-45) on Friday night and were too strong for Perth (94-75) on Saturday morning, but it was Saturday night's match-up against Queensland that was always going to be the most intriguing after the Spinning Bullets beat Wollongong last round. The Roller Hawks took control early racing to a 22-12 lead at quarter-time. Wollongong consistently doubled Bullets big man Michael Auprince, forcing him to offload to teammates more than he wanted to. The visitors kept their opponents at bay throughout the game, winning 77-64.
The three wins were made all the more impressive in the absence of captain Brett Stibners, who was out with a non-COVID illness. Tristan Knowles led the way, averaging a triple-double for the weekend, but gave credit to his teammates for playing to their systems. Knowles was superb from outside, hitting 19 from 30, while Shawn Russell rolled back into the starting line-up and was a force under the basket.
Knowles, Russell and Luke Pople played the full 40 minutes in all three games.
"You consider where we were two weeks ago, Brisbane taught us a real lesson in basketball, what was really, really pleasing was the urgency the group showed at those times where games could go either way, we really dug in and went for it," Knowles said.
"I knew that with 'Sticky' not here his production needed to be picked up by the remaining players. Not so much the points, that's the really good thing about this team. [Coach] Brendan Dowler needs to take a bit of a bow for this, we've got some really good offensive structure which puts the right people in the right spots for the right shots and it's just a matter of whoever is in that spot at the time to execute."
The focus now turns to the NWBL finals from July 15, with Wollongong confident they still have another gear or two to go up, especially with the return of Stibners.
"As disappointing as a loss is, two weeks ago that really forced us to have a really good look at ourselves around how much we really wanted this," Knowles said.
"Building on that intensity and that urgency, I think we showed we are prepared to work incredibly hard to be successful and that's going to translate into our training over the next couple of weeks."
The Roller Hawks finish the regular season in first place and will play the Perth Wheelcats on day one of the finals, with the winner progressing directly to the Sunday's gold medal game. The loser will get a second chance by playing the winner of third (Queensland) versus fourth (Darwin), who will meet in an elimination game also on day one.
The Roller Hawks will be hosting a grand final viewing party at Collegians auditorium from 11am to 3pm, taking in both the play-off for bronze and gold medal games.
The matches will be up on the big screen, entry is free and there'll be activities and raffles to create a fun grand final atmosphere. The Roller Hawks encourage family, friends, sponsors and fans to join in and cheer the team on from afar.
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