Phoenix have progressed to the preliminary finals with their win over Celtic Tigers in the A men Monday night competition here at the MARS Minerdome.
The game started with both teams scoring freely and very little defence. Both teams putting points on the board early however inefficiency cost both teams.
Phoenix’s Brad Henderson was influential early carving through the Celtic Tigers defence to create early scoreboard pressure and put the Celtic Tigers defence on high alert but too little avail as time after time he created key offensive plays for Phoenix.
Celtic Tigers had their own scoring weapon that came in the form of the dangerous Ross Weightman who worked tirelessly throughout the first half to get to the basket and to good success scoring seven of his eleven points in the first half.
Celtic Tigers big man Luke Sisic looked to impose himself on the Phoenix defence with his aggressive play and was helped under the ring by a dominate Grant James that provided excellent rebounding pressure for the Celtic Tigers.
Phoenix was not as imposing in their ability to rebound but nor did they need to be with their teams ability to knock down their mid-range shots when it was needed.
At half time the scoreboard read Celtic Tigers 18 to Phoenix 17, with either side having the potential to secure their spot in next week’s Preliminary Final verse Drummo Dragons. It turned ugly for the Celtic Tigers with early foul trouble and no one able to help Celtic Tigers leading scorer Luke Cavanagh with the second half yielding a mere 13 points. It was the complete opposite for Phoenix lead by Dan Wehrung with the Celtic Tigers having no answer as he amassed 14 of his 18 points in the second half to put an end to the Celtic Tigers 2015 finals campaign.