12 Aug Salties Roll to NWBL Title
The Darwin Salties have claimed their first National Wheelchair Basketball League title, just three years into their existence.
Tom O’Neill-Thorne emerged the hero, sinking a three pointer with 4 seconds remaining on the clock to break a 64-all deadlock and the hearts of the hometown fans among the 508 strong crowd.
The inbound pass came to Tom O’Neill-Thorne who pushed to the top of the three point line and fired off a shot immediately, the Roller Hawks closed out to contest the attempt but the ball found nothing but the bottom of the net, giving the Salties a three-point lead with just 1.9 seconds left on the clock.
The Roller Hawks called a time-out and needing a three to send the game to overtime, captain Brett Stibners launched a hail mary that bounced off the rim, leaving the Salties the victors 67-64.
“I don’t even know what to say,” said Finals MVP Tom O’Neill-Thorne. “I’m still feeling a little bit gassed and a little bit shell-shocked about what happened. It’s been an unreal season.”
“Obviously last year with the tournament we came out and played well, we knew we’d have a bit of a target on our back after that but it’s been incredible.”
“We’ve got such a good group of people on the court as players, and the support staff, and the support from the Darwin community has been incredible.”
The first NWBL grand final under the banner of Wheelchair Basketball Australia became one for the ages, as the hometown Wollongong Roller Hawks surged from 12 points down at three quarter time to level the scores at 64-all thanks to a Luke Pople free throw with 5 seconds remaining.
The possibility of overtime loomed but O’Neill-Thorne and the Salties had other ideas and looked to put the Roller Hawks away from beyond the arc.
“Coming into the timeout Coach Ivo had the play we wanted, and we wanted a three and he wanted me to shoot it, which is a lot of confidence in me. As soon as it left the hands it felt pretty good but you never know, I was pretty far out, sometimes you just shoot those things and pray.”
“Tommy’s a big time player,” said Salties coach Jason Ivinson.
“He’s been away. He’s had that big time experience, you want to get on his shoulders and follow him through. Just having those leaders, just get on my back we’re not letting this slide.”
The electrifying finishing was seen live and exclusive across Kayo in a major boost to the re-emerging league.
“From a wheelchair basketball standpoint, that game was on Kayo and I don’t think you could have a better game on Kayo, the way that it went down to the wire,” said O’Neill-Thorne.
Despite going down, the Roller Hawks gave it everything. They trailed by 12 points at three quarter time, a similar position to Saturday’s semi final against the Salties where they were down by 13 at the last break. In that game, Darwin went on with the job, they crushed the Roller Hawks 83-58 and forced them to back up in the Preliminary Final on Saturday night against the Perth Wheelcats.
“To go down by three, you can’t help but look at a few key moments in the game, a couple of mistakes that we made in really crucial moments but well done to Darwin, they’re a good bunch and a really well run club. I’m happy for them but jeez I wish it was us,” said Roller Hawk Tristan Knowles.
“Before today’s game we’d played them four times, and it was 2-2. We knew we had it in us. We knew we had to be near perfect to challenge them with the list that they’ve got. They’re just a really, really tough team, I’m just really proud of how the guys turned up today and gave it absolutely everything.”
“I don’t think anyone had a single drop of petrol left in the end.”
In the play-off for third, the Perth Wheelcats defeated the Manly Wheel Eagles 69-54.
There’ll be little time to savour victory for the Salties as four of their players, O’Neill-Thorne, Sam White, Jaylen Brown and Jannik Blair fly out to Paris with the Rollers alongside Roller Hawks pair Tristan Knowles and Luke Pople as well as four members of the Perth Wheelcats, Shaun Norris, Frank Pinder, Tom McHugh and Phil Evans, along with Bill Latham from the Manly Wheel Eagles and Eithen Leard from the Southern Districts Spartans.
The team departs for France on Friday.
WBA Finals Series – Shellharbour City Stadium, Croom NSW
National Wheelchair Basketball League
Semi Finals – Saturday 10th August 2024
Darwin Salties 83 def Wollongong Roller Hawks 58
Perth Wheelcats 62 def Manly Wheel Eagles 34
Preliminary Final – Saturday 10th August 2024
Wollongong Roller Hawks 81 def Perth Wheelcats 60
Finals – Sunday 11th August 2024
Bronze Medal Game: Perth Wheelcats 69 def Manly Wheel Eagles 54
Gold Medal Game: Darwin Salties 67 def Wollongong Roller Hawks 64