Broome basketball: undermanned Pointers hold out, MP Boyz show flair in round four A grade wins

An undermanned Gantheaume Pointers outfit pulled off a dogged 10-point win over the Kings at Broome Recreation Centre on Wednesday night. Coming into the game with no subs, the A-grade side knew they needed points on the board early and went about setting a strong platform. Mitchell Huntley (20 points) starred from the get-go, with his strong jump shot game giving the Pointers an advantage 5-11 in the first term. Gantheaume cemented their dominance by stretching the lead out to 14 points before cracks started to appear in the leading side late in the second term. Several darting runs under the backboard by Khan John (14 points) found their mark while Terramce Cox muscled up down the centre. The game turned on its head in the third term. A higher tempo from the Kings, aided by increasingly frequent turnovers outside the D from the Pointers, saw the boys in blue get a on roll over their tiring opponents. They went into the final break one point up and looked set to break the game wide open in the fourth quarter. Ill-discipline let them down however: seemingly desperate having lost the lead again early in the final term, the Kings boys became a little too rough in their efforts to regain momentum. Two crucial three-pointers from Wayne Edgar piled the pressure back on the Kings as Gantheaume raced back out to a seven-point lead with seven minutes on the clock. Several offensive fouls on promising attacking plays cost the Kings dearly and that was compounded with four minutes left on the clock when a charge by Cox knocked the wind out of Gene Eaton. That allowed the Pointers to shave precious seconds off the clock and, when play resumed, the leaders simply controlled the ball and slowed the game right down to end the night comfortably 39-29. The second game of the night between MP Boyz and BlackHawks provided a brilliant fast-paced display of basketball. A free-flowing start saw both sides trading shots in an entertaining end-to-end basketball display. It was a tight one-point contest at the first break, but by the end of the second term and led by Lattrell Matthews (33 points), MP Boyz had widened the gap to seven points. Matthews continued to star, slotting three hoops within one minute at the start of the third to push the score out to 37-22. By the time the final siren sounded MP Boyz were left celebrating a percentage-boosting 56-40 win. Matthews ended the night with 15 hoops, including five from downtown and two free throws. The results leave MP Boyz sitting two points behind ladder-leaders Roey Mistfits and above the BlackHawks on percentage.