BSBL men’s: Tornadoes Black beat Bulls Grey by one point in overtime thriller

Tornadoes Black edged out Bulls Grey by a solitary point in a Bunbury Senior Basketball League men’s A-grade overtime thriller at South West Sports Centre on Friday night. Troy Kelly (15 points) looked to have won the game for Grey with a three-pointer in the closing seconds of the extra period, only for Luc Perkins (20) to tip in a rebound shot as time expired to steal a 110-109 victory for Black. In a contest which was tense at times, Black had the ascendancy for much of the first three terms, taking a 17-point lead into the final break. But Grey stormed back in the closing stages before both teams burned opportunities to win the game late in the fourth quarter. Tyson Kelly and Malachi Desmond both scored 23 points for Grey, with Ryan Smith pacing the winners in scoring with the same total. The best of the other games was a hard-fought 11-point victory for Bulls Maroon over Conquerors. Needing a win to stay in touch with the competition’s pacesetters, the reigning champions were pushed all the way to the final buzzer by their spirited opponents but did enough to run out 100-89 winners. Maroon trailed by nine points in the middle stages of the second term but were able to turn their deficit into a 12-point advantage at a similar time in the third. Without star Travis Durnin, the winners spread the offensive load, with Cody Hill (22 points) the most prominent of five double-digit scorers. Big performances from Xavier Cotton and Pharell Keats saw ladder-leaders Bulls Gold defeat Tornadoes Red by 20 points. The South West Slammers pair scored 30 points apiece in their side’s 96-76 win, with Cotton combining long-range shooting with some big dunks, and Keats playing with his typical flair. Gold now have a two-win buffer over the rest of the competition, having won all seven of their games this season. The struggles of Eaton Eagles continued with an 80-point loss to Aces White. White came into the clash sitting only one spot above the last-placed Eagles but proved far too good for their opponents in a 127-47 result. The Eagles are the competition’s only side to have played eight games, but they have lost each by an average margin of 69.8 points.