The Sureway Wollongong Roller Hawks have enjoyed a perfect, albeit rusty start to the 2021 National Wheelchair Basketball League (NWBL) season, winning all four of their Round 1 games to sit clear at the top of the ladder.

The match of the round saw the Roller Hawks take on the Perth Wheelcats on Saturday night in front of a delighted crowd. The two sides were neck and neck throughout the contest with Perth holding a two point advantage at three quarter time.

 

But the tide turned in the final term, the Roller Hawks maintaining their composure to edge away from the Wheelcats and win 66-56.

“Just being able to slow down and execute in the fourth, not turn the ball over and get good high percentage shots is what worked for us.” said Roller Hawks guard Nick Taylor.

 

Captain Brett Stibners also credited the team’s composure down the stretch. 

 

“Brendan our coach is always into us about points in the paint and we did a lot better in defence in stopping those points in the paint from Perth,” added Stibners.

 

Stibners led the Roller Hawks with 26 points supported by Taylor (17 points) and Luke Pople (15 points) but it was their effort defensively to restrict Australian captain Shaun Norris to 18 points that was the real difference. 

 

“Shaun Norris is the best player in the world in my opinion so he’s always going to be tough to stop and I think we held him to 8 out of 23 shots which is actually a pretty good effort on our part,” said Taylor.

 

“We know if he doesn't score 40 points they’re not going to beat us so if we shut him down, we’ve done our job.”

 

The crowd also played its part in getting the Roller Hawks home.

 

“It’s fantastic to see such a great crowd, when that stands full and people are really cheering us on you can actually feel the energy in the building and it just gives us that extra boost,” said Taylor.

The round started in inauspicious circumstances with the Victorian lockdown forcing Melbourne based players to miss the first weekend of competitive wheelchair basketball in two years and leading the Sydney Metro Blue Hornets, who were expecting to field four Victorians, to forfeit their games. 

 

But the return to basketball was a welcome one for the remaining four sides, host team the Roller Hawks taking on the Queensland Spinning Bullets in a 2019 grand final rematch to start the season on Friday night.

 

The Roller Hawks finished 66-57 winners after struggling to find their rhythm in the first half, understandable given the long layoff. Nick Taylor led the Roller Hawks with 22 points and 7 assists while Tom O’Neill-Thorne had 27 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists for the Bullets.

 

Day 2 saw Queensland backup with an early start against the Perth Wheelcats who were too strong winning 71-63 and relegating the Bullets to an 0-2 start. 

 

The Australian U23s Spinners got their first taste of NWBL basketball against the Roller Hawks, with the champs winning 78-45. The Spinners were added to this year’s competition following a number of teams opting not to field sides this season. 

 

The young guns will give up experience to all of their opponents this season but the lessons are set to be invaluable to Australia’s next generation of Paralympians.

 

The Spinners were back in action in Saturday’s evening session but couldn’t match it with Queensland who play a similar fast paced style of basketball, the Bullets winning 72-35 before the Roller Hawks and Wheelcats played out their Saturday night thriller.

 

Sunday morning saw a rematch of the previous evening’s fixtures with similar results, the Spinning Bullets again keeping the Under 23s at bay with a 65-43 win. Most of the damage was done in the first half but to the Spinners’ credit, they hung tough in the second half, only being outscored by 5.

 

In the final game of the round, the Roller Hawks had it much easier against Perth than the night before, winning 88-66. Luke Pople starred with a triple double (18 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists) while Brett Stibners led all scorers with 36 points, to go with 8 rebounds and 7 assists and Shawn Russell had 24 points and 15 rebounds.

 

While the Roller Hawks emerged with four wins, just being back on court was a win in itself.

 

“It’s awesome just to be out on the floor again, it’s been so long. Just awesome to be back on the court with our mates who have come from around the country to play,” said Taylor.

 

Attention now turns to Round 2 to be held at the Hills Basketball Stadium in Sydney from the 11th to 13th June.

 

2021 NWBL LADDER (3 points for a win, 2 points for a draw, 1 point for a loss)