Electric Eels shock Mustangs in TBL grand final blowout
The 2024 Toowoomba Basketball League reached its finale on Saturday night with the Southern Cross Bricklaying Eels claiming a blowout win over the Washed On James Mustangs.
After having to fight to just make finals, Eels captain Mitch Davis was over the moon to take home the title.
“Because where we were a couple of weeks ago, if we lost we wouldn’t have got here,” he said. “So we’ve felt like we’ve been in finals for like four weeks now, so just playing every week, we’ve gotten really good chemistry and we know how to play in these sorts of moments when it matters.”
The Eels stormed out to an early double-digit lead which helped lay down a platform for Davis to get to work in the paint.
“It was massive, we’ve got a heap of young guys so just getting out in front early, it just gives you a lot of confidence,” Davis said. “They’re not stressed about making shots, they can just play freely whereas on the other side, you see their young guys missing shots because they’re behind, it just makes a massive difference with young guys.”
After the Mustangs managed to pull it back to a one“It possession game in the second half, it looked like the minor premiers could pull off a stunning comeback.
However, the Eels managed to find another gear and ran home to claim a comfortable victory.
was starting to get a bit ugly, we were a little bit worried but really glad to pull that out, a great feeling now,” Davis said.
As one of the most experienced players, Davis was at the forefront for the Eels when the Mustangs were on the charge.
“(I told the players) just to breathe, go back to doing what we do and it’s just another game of basketball,” he said.
“We didn’t need to freak out, everyone was worried because it was a final but the lights weren’t that bright.
“We just needed to keep playing and they started digging in, made a few shots and got a few stops.”
One of the keys to the Eels’ stellar offensive display was the shooting from Ben Toohey, who was seemingly on a heater for the entire contest.
“It is awesome, every time you see him open you are excited to give him the ball, you know it is going in,” Davis said.
With several players from all four teams set to play together this year for the Toowoomba Mountaineers in the QSL, Davis was excited to see so many players take their game to the next level.
“I am really excited for it now, everyone has been playing this so we are all pretty fit,” he said.
“We’ve got pretty good touch, trainings are starting to get pretty competitive so we are keen and ready to go.”
Davis was also impressed by the young stars who showed they have what it takes to perform at a high level for years to come.