Stars come out to play in showcase for basketball

TONIGHT’S NBL pre-season clash between Melbourne United and Perth is the perfect chance for the region to show its thirst for high-class basketball, Geelong United Basketball boss Mark Neeld says.

The replay of last season’s NBL grand final is set to fill The Arena tonight with about 300 tickets remaining.

Neeld said luring two elite teams to the region was the start of an exciting time for the newly formed Geelong United Basketball.

“We feel for the Geelong basketball community it’s a great opportunity to see basketball at the highest level we can see in our country,” he said.

“For us, as Geelong United Basketball now, we are seeing it as our first opportunity to work with the City of Greater Geelong. We see it as a great opportunity to work on an event together and all the learnings we can get from that.

“The way we have looked at it, it’s a new entity starting with Geelong United Basketball.

“We’ve worked really hard bringing that together . . . and we’re putting the event together with great support from Melbourne United.

“We are in the game of putting on basketball. The opportunity arose and we thought it was a wonderful opportunity to bring an NBL standard game to Geelong, not only for our members but the sports loving population of Geelong.”

Melbourne United is set to roll out a strong team for tonight’s match with its roster featuring Australian Boomers Chris Goulding and David Barlow, as well as star imports Casey Prather, Melo Trimble and Shawn Long.

Neeld said seeing those stars play in person could inspire more kids to pick up a ball and play.

“We are really hoping that The Arena is full. We think it’s a great opportunity with school holidays,” he said.

“It’s a great opportunity for parents to take their children along that, yes, really enjoy basketball, but also those that just enjoy sport.

“You can’t go wrong by taking a couple of mates along and having a look. It should be a really good night.”