Geraldton basketball Rd 6: Johny Narkle takes over as Olympians come back to win over Hawks by one point

Olympians rallied against the Hawks, with Johny Narkle taking over to help secure a thrilling one-point win, 99-98, in round six of the Geraldton Amateur Basketball Association on Tuesday. Incredibly, it’s the second time this season Olympians have defeated the Hawks by one point, with the first match-up in round one also going down to the wire. This time, it was the Hawks that got off to a fast start. Both sides were aggressive early, with 99 points between the two in the first half, but the Hawks held a 14-point lead towards the end of the second. Coming into the final quarter, Olympians had managed to fight their way back into the game with a faster style, but the Hawks slowed down their possessions trying to drain the clock. A score from Ryan Blanchett took the Hawks lead to seven points, but Leedham Narkle responded with a three. As the sides traded scoring, the lead stayed in the Hawks’ favour for the majority of the quarter. Fletcher Klasztorny brought the ball up slowly for the Hawks as they held an eight-point lead with just two minutes remaining, but the side turned the ball over and Liam Bennett tipped it in for Olympians. The Hawks then turned the ball over again and Johny Narkle found Bradley Roworth open, cutting the difference to four points with one minute left. With all the momentum going in the Olympians’ way, Hawks bricked a crucial shot and the ball was chucked down to Quinton Narkle, who scored in traffic and drew the foul. The sunk free-throw made it just a one-point game, with 36 seconds remaining. Both sides turned the ball over, but Olympians had a chance to inbound the ball on their side with just six seconds left. Richard Bartlett passed to Johny Narkle, who dished it off to Liam Bennett but the shot was blocked. Johny Narkle leaped up for the rebound and put the shot up and sunk it to put put his side up by one as Hawks called a timeout. The Hawks now had a chance to inbound on their side with 1.5 seconds left on the clock. As they threw it in, Blanchett attempted a shot but Johny Narkle blocked it to end the game, giving Olympians the 99-98 win. Johny and Quinton Narkle had 28 and 25 points respectively, while Robert Griechen scored 29 and Blanchett accounted for 28 in the loss. While the first match-up of the round brought a thriller, the Wednesday games resulted in much more comfortable wins. Pumas pumped Stateside in a 54-point blowout, with the side dominating in the 99-41 match that never looked close. Williams Galvin scored 27 points and Tom Dobson had 25 for the Pumas, Lucas Ronan with 18 gave Stateside some life in their loss. Chapman Valley moved to 6-0 on the season as they knocked down Trades 88-68, led by Aaron Ralph’s 36-point effort with seven three-pointers. In the division two games, Olympians took care of Hawks 91-69, Trades beat the Valley 69-54 and Stateside got up over Pumas 68-51.