The D Fenders Basketball Club will host the 2018 Tip-Off Basketball Challenge over two weekends, commencing this Sunday 25 February and concluding next Sunday 4 March at the Multipurpose Hall. Games will be held between 12pm and 6pm both days.

The tournament will consist of both Open Men’s and Open Women’s divisions. Games will be 2 x 10 minute halves, with the last 2 minutes fully-timed and a 24 shot clock in play. In addition there will be some modified scoring rules, with dunks being awarded 3 points and shots from outside the regulation 3 point arc instead being worth 4 points. Week 1 will consist of round-robin play with teams in their allocated pools, then in week 2 playoffs will be held to determine the winners. All participating teams are guaranteed a minimum of 3 games across the two weekends.

Tournament organizers are excited to kick-start the basketball year after many months without organised competition in Honiara. The shorter game times will help teams to ease back into the competitive environment and also play multiple games in the same day, while the aim of the shot clock and modified scoring rules is to encourage faster, more high scoring play.

Due to time constraints, there will be a limit on the number of teams that can participate in the tournament and spaces are filling up fast. Nominations close this Friday, 23 February at 5pm and teams can register by contacting Debbie Sade. Teams must pay the nomination fee of $200 when registering to confirm their place in the tournament. Schedules for the tournament will be released on Friday evening after the close of nominations.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:
Debbie Sade, phone 771 2375 or email Debbie.Sade@dfat.gov.au
Eric Malcolm, phone 899 5537 or email emalcolmx@hotmail.com