The Just Better Care Wollongong Roller Hawks have emerged with three titles from the 2023 Wheelchair Basketball Illawarra Festival .

 

Headlining Sunday’s Grand Finals was the Division 1 matchup between Roller Hawks Black and Roller Hawks White. 

 

Roller Hawks Black featured Tristan Knowles, Luke Pople, Tim Rushby-Smith with Aussie Roller Jontee Brown linking up with the side and New Zealand Wheel Blacks player Wayne Chase a late replacement for Matt Caruana. The Roller Hawks White team featured Brett Stibners, Shawn Russell, Nick Taylor, Darren Hayes, Nick Scott and NSW Junior Blue Cooper Tarleton.

 

Roller Hawks Black had been victorious in their pool game against the White team and while they jumped to an early lead in the opening quarter they never got more than two possessions ahead.

 

The second quarter opened up for the Black team, with Tristan Knowles finding space from behind the arc, helping his side to a 10 point halftime advantage.

 

But the White team would not be shaken, keeping pace with the Black team in the second half but never able to truly close the margin.

 

Knowles was called for his fourth foul midway through the final quarter, and a fifth foul and subsequent ejection would have swung momentum heavily towards the White team. With no reserves, the Black team would’ve been down to just four players, but the five time Paralympian maintained his composure and avoided any further infringements, steering his team to a 83-76 win.

 

In the Division 2 Grand Final, played over two ten minute halves, the Manly Wheel Eagles held on against Illawarra Eagles Black to win 27-23. 

 

Manly jumped out to a 18-10 halftime advantage but Illawarra got a series of stops at the beginning of the second half to close the gap to two points before Manly’s Cooper Tarleton sunk their first basket of the second half, three minutes into the term.

 

Illawarra’s James Williams closed the gap to two with 2:00 to play but with no shot clock in Division 2, Manly were under no pressure to take a shot and held onto the ball for 48 seconds before Illawarra was forced to foul. 

 

In the next possession, Manly again were in no rush to score before finally taking a long range shot that was off the mark; Manly caught the offensive rebound and scored, stretching the lead to a four point winning margin.

Earlier in the weekend, a group of home grown celebrities battle it out for supremency with the White Team of Harry Morris (Illawarra Basketball Association), Melinda James (ABC Illawarra) Daniel Oliver (Barstool Brothers), Beth Armour (KidsWish) and Michael Norris (The Disability Trust) winning 12-9 over the Red Team of Tim Coenraad (Illawarra Hawks) Jared Constable (WIN News), Graham Lancaster (Lancaster Law & Mediation), Emily Wright (KidsWish) and Claton Stephenson (Just Better Care - Illawarra & Southern Highlands).

 

On Friday, the Roller Hawks defeated Manly in 3X3 while on Thursday, Illawarra Eagles White took out the Masters.

The Wheelchair Basketball Illawarra Festival is already locked in for October 30th to November 3rd 2024 with organisers hoping a full year to prepare will attract even more teams.