World of Basketball August 11th

Americas

The finals in Mexico continued in Chihuahua with the home team having won the first two games in their title defense only to lose all three games at Monterrey to face elimination at home. They trailed early, but take the lead late only to let the visitors get the winning basket right before the buzzer. Monterrey completed an impressive set of wins to become the new champion.

The Final 4 series were played this week in Puerto Rico, starting on Monday with Yauco edging Ponce. Guayama defeated Catano in the opener of the other series on Tuesday. Yauco finished their sweep on Wednesday with another win over Ponce. Catano stayed in contention by avoiding the sweep on Thursday, setting up one deciding game on Saturday. That game was a close and tense affair, but Guayama held on to a narrow win over Catano to advance.

Australia

Four conference titles were decided in NBL1 on Saturday to set up the national tournament field. In the South, the Waverley Falcons had their incredible late season run continue with a win over the Keilor Thunder. Alex Ciabattoni had 30 points as the Cockburn Cougars started the West final with a lead, but the Rockingham Flames controlled the rest of the game for the championship. The Sutherland Sharks had made an impressive playoff run in the East, but 33 points from Lauren Nicholson were not enough and the Newcastle Falcons won. The Forestville Eagles looked set to win the Central, but the Central Districts Lions used an incredible fourth quarter to seal the win.

The playoffs started in Big V and in the top division, Bulleen won against Bellarine to advance to the game for the first spot in the championship against Wyndham. Pakenham won at Sunbury so they will visit Bellarine next. In the middle division, Warrandyte was surprised by Chelsea despite 31 points from Shannon Powell-Ross and 20 rebounds from Emmie O’Nial. Altona eliminated Western Port. In the bottom division, Wallan got 22 rebounds from Kylah Collins to defeat Surf Coast, which got 20 rebounds from Candice Rogers. Melbourne University ended up being the only home team to win after eliminating RMIT.