Wildcats produce thriller victory

BASKETBALL: Warwick has kept their unbeaten start to the Heathley Big Q League alive after a nail-biting 117-115 defeat of Harristown.

The match between the two ladder leaders heading into the weekend didn’t fail to deliver, going down to the wire.

Wildcats assistant coach Jeff Clark said the team was able to recover from a shaky start to prevail down the stretch.

“They got a pretty good lead and got out by about 12 in the first quarter. We didn’t start well but we’re never too concerned about being that far behind early on,” he said.

“By half-time we were pretty much even and then it was an arm wrestle from then on.

“There was a lot of good quality players playing, and we didn’t know until last seven seconds who would win.

“James Legan hit a threepointer in the last minute from pretty deep with a defender right in his face to put us up by three.

“We played from the lead for the last minute. They sent us to the line and then went down the other end and scored.”

Kyle Harvey was again a dominant force for the Wildcats in his final game, producing a game-high 38 points, while Legan had 26 in his second game of the season.

“Kyle played well in his last game, and we had a new player in to replace Kyle who played really well also,” Clark said.

“Jarrod Schultz will fit in well with the line-up.

“DJ (Cremasco) was away and we still have Kade Hobman, who was one of our best last year, to come back. We’re expecting both of them back for next week.”

Tito Kwajakwan was again electric for the Runnin’ Rebels, dropping 36 points to clearly take over as the league’s leading scorer (36.75 ppg), while Josh Derksen hit four threepointers in his 24 points.

Harristown was able to recover from the narrow loss the next day, prevailing in a tight contest of their own over the Saints 90-87.

After trailing by double digits in the opening quarter, the Runnin’ Rebels were able to find their range through Kwajakwan and Joseph Johnson, who finished with 36 and 27 points respectively.

In the weekend’s other fixture, USQ proved far too strong for the Mountaineers Development, running out 130-93 winners.

Joe McConnell was once again unstoppable from range, finishing with 11 three-pointers on his way to a game-high 37 points.

Photos: Nev Madsen SENDING IT HOME: Josh Derksen prepares to launch a physical tirade on the rim during the Runnin’ Rebels’ loss to the Wildcats.

James Mbaryo gets airborne on his way to another monster jam for USQ.

Wildcats guard James Legan tries to push past Harristown forward Charles Dickerson.

Will Mitchell gets into open space for the USQ Dragons in their defeat of Mountaineers Development.