By Phina Newton
Lines were out the door for the UBL semi-final between Melbourne University and the University of Sydney men’s teams. In fact, it was a record-breaking attendance, a worthy crowd for a game of such high stakes.
Starting in exciting fashion, it was co-captain Spud McNally who was on fire early, creating a huge four-point play. His flurry of triples, combined with Kai Garnaut’s defensive efforts – even Spud taking a charge of his own, earned the Melbourne University team an early lead and USYD were forced to call a timeout.
As the quarter progressed, the game became a lot closer, Robbie Moore stepped up for his team and USYD had their first lead, but co-captains Spud and Dihan Wiggett were having none of it and got their team back in front.
As momentum continued to see-saw on the scoreboard, the same was happening on the defensive end, the pressure clearly being felt by both teams as they exchanged turnovers.
A momentary fade from our men’s team was all it took for USYD to get on a roll before the main break, the game back in USYD’s favour with an 11-point margin.
As the second half began, USYD’s Campbell Green and Mitchell Smith were having their way on the rebounds, taking advantage of any missed boxouts.
With the lead out to 20 points, we knew it would take something special for our Winged Victory to get it back. That something special was Wiggett, who through both his offensive and defensive output was able to get the deficit to within ten with only a couple of minutes left.
Try as they might, however, it was just out of reach and USYD were able to finish the game at the free throw line and walk away with not just a win but a spot in the grand-final.