On the weekend of January 29 and 30 Murray Bridge Bullets Senior Men’s team played in the SA Country Championships in Division 1 at Wayville in extreme heat.

First game was Saturday against Eastern Hills. Eastern Hills won the tap and were first to score. Tight defense and intercept by Wingard gave Bullets 3 points. Good defense by Tyson Prosser, rebounds by Morris and jump shots by Travis Prosser kept Bullets in the game. Quarter time score 16 E/H – 8 Bullets.

Three points to Tyson Prosser at the start of the quarter, and then Salter saw Bullets start to catch up. Hollitt took a big charge in the keyway with some good rebounding by Baxter and defense by Edwards. Half time 27 E/H – 16 Bullets.

Turnovers and bad passing let Bullets down in the third quarter. Despite good rebounding, Eastern Hills three point shooting kept them well ahead. Third quarter score 41 E/H – 22 Bullets.

Anastasiou started the fourth well with 3 points. Good team defense and more intensive effort to attack the basket caught Bullets up, but it was not enough. Consistent three point shooting by Eastern Hills kept them ahead. Final score 50 E/H – 38 Bullets.

The second game was against Riverland in extreme conditions. Bullets won the tap and scored the first two points. There was a lot of pressure and rebounds from Bullets. Bullets 11 – Riverland 7

Second quarter Riverland came out with a lot of determination and capitalized on their opportunities. Bullets 17 – Riverland 26.

Bullets were getting caught with silly fouls. Bullets applied good pressure in the last 5 minutes of the third quarter to get Riverland to make mistakes. Bullets 29 – Riverland 42. Bullets couldn’t seem to close the gap on Riverland even though they played very good defense. Final score 40 – Riverland 56.

That evening Bullets played their third game for the day against Port Augusta. In a fast paced game Pt Augusta scored first. Hollitt and Edwards both hit three points with Wingard intercepting and a fast break foul sent him to the line to shoot. Poor rebounding by Bullets let Pt August get away at the end of the first quarter 12 – 8 Bullets. 

A great drive by Anastasiou at the start of the second saw Bullets attack the basket harder. A fast break drive by Travis Prosser resulted in a charge foul. An intercept by Baxter, drive by Edwards and dish to Wingard got a score for Bullets. Half time score P/A 23 – 19 Bullets.

Third quarter started with a score from Salter and intense defense by Bullets got them back into the game. An aggressive attack on the ball by Tyson Prosser got a turnover and scored three points to hit the lead. The score then seesawed several times in the last 3 minutes to finish third quarter P/A 37 – 35 Bullets.

The fourth quarter started with Tyson Prosser being flattened twice but no fouls called. Tight defense by Baxter deflected the ball to prevent Pt Augusta scoring. Intense play with the close score saw several charge calls. The game finished in a draw 43 each.

Extra time of three minutes was played. A great defensive trap up the court saw Bullets go up by three. Shooting foul against Bullets got Pt Augusta back in the game. Drive by Hollitt put Bullets up by three again. Pt Augusta responded. More foul shots by Pt Augusta put them ahead by two. Drive by Wingard, and then foul shot put Bullets ahead by one. Pt Augusta scored in the last seconds to draw again.

Overtime (2) saw both teams work very hard, but ended up with a draw again at 52 each. Overtime (3) the teams changed ends, and Pt Augusta got two foul shots in, but Baxter scored from a rebound which made them even again with 54 each.

Overtime (4) saw very intense even play again, but with only 9 seconds to go Pt Augusta scored to win the game 57 – 54 Bullets.

 

Sunday morning, again in extreme heat, saw Bullets play the quarter final against Mt Gambier. Bullets had a great start to the game with Edwards scoring the first 5 points, and Hollitt hitting a three. Mt Gambier responded with aggressive defense. Points by Tyson Prosser and Baxter kept Bullets in touch at quarter time with 12 each.

Salter made first points after quarter time and Travis Prosser drew a foul and went to the line for one. Anastasiou got a defensive steal. Accurate three point shooting late in the quarter saw Mt Gambier draw away 31 – 19 Bullets.

Tyson Prosser took first points for the third quarter, and offensive rebounding by Morris made good. Strong defense both ends of the court made it difficult for teams to score. Lack of finishing shots saw Mt Gambier pull away 42 – 23 Bullets.

Despite a continuous intense defensive effort by Edwards and the Bullets team in the fourth, accurate shooting by Mt Gambier saw them win the game 52 – 36 Bullets. It was a great effort by the Bullets team for the whole game in very trying heat conditions.