Cowboys and Bulls through to Harvey Basketball Association senior grand finals after preliminary final wins

It is the end of the road for the Suns and LBH after both teams failed to make it through to the Tuesday night’s Harvey basketball grand finals.

Preliminary Finals for the Harvey Basketball Association seniors competition were held on February 21 ahead of the final deciders this week at the Harvey Recreation and Cultural Centre.

With the Blazers and Djinda already locked into the men’s and women’s grand finals, respectively, it was do-or-die for the other four teams remaining in this summer’s competition.

In the men’s preliminary final, it was a tight match until the dying minutes of the second half.

After falling to the Blazers in the first semifinal, the Cowboys were looking for a shot at redemption with their championship dreams on the line.

However, it was the Suns who had a slight upper hand in the match, taking a small 35-32 lead going into half-time.

The match remained close for the beginning of the second half, until the Cowboys slowly fought back against their opponents.

At one point, the Cowboys’ Anthony Martella had a slam dunk after outpacing his opponents and teammates to the offensive half.

By the end of the match, the Cowboys had come home with a reasonable result, defeating the Suns 62-56.

Jake Chapman was the player of the match, scoring 26 points. Rex Rees’ 17 points made him the best performer for the Suns.

It was a similar story in the women’s preliminary final, in which the Bulls were hoping to keep their chance at playing in the grand final after finishing the regular season at the top of the ladder but succumbing to Djinda in the first semifinal.

LBH were hoping to continue their dream run after they defeated the higher-ranked Mettlers in the second semifinal.

Much like in the men’s prelim, the game was tight for most of the time, with LBH holding a narrow 22-21 lead at half-time.

However, the side failed to maintain the momentum through the whole second half, which saw the Bulls finish the game with a 40-32 win.

Sarah Donovan’s delivery of 18 points for the winning side made her the best player of the game, though LBH’s Matilda Cumbers was a close second with 16 points.

The results will see the top-two teams from the senior men’s and women’s competitions face off against each other for Tuesday night’s grand finals.

The women’s grand final will start at 6.30pm, and will be followed by the men’s grand final starting at 7.30pm.