Martin return boosts Perth ahead of final

Corbin Middlemas

Updated April 24, 2012 18:15:16

Two-time NBL best defensive player Damian Martin is playing in game three of the grand final series tonight in Auckland despite spending the past few days in a moon boot.

Martin tore ligaments in his ankle during Perth's come from behind victory in game two last Friday but the Boomers guard trained with the group this morning in a shoot around after missing yesterday's session due to the injury.

Martin completed a fitness test on his troublesome ankle under the watchful eye of Cats' physio Dave Philpot.

"We ran him today in the shoot-around, it's noticeable that's he got an injury there but he did function reasonably well," Philpot said shortly after practise.

"He's got a mild to moderate strain of a couple of ligaments high up in his ankle, which really stabilise the whole joint, and as a result it's obviously very painful. We had all the scans done which showed the instability there is only very minor, which means that's he able to play."

In contrast to what was initially thought, Martin will not have an injection to numb the pain before tip-off.

"Unfortunately because the ligament is a weight baring one, so you really cant inject it with a local because if he does anymore damage you really want to know about it," said Philpot.

"You can't afford to let him run around on a ligament that's busted, and at any stage there is that risk he's going to go out and do more damage, hopefully we've done enough to keep that risk pretty low. But it's always there. I'm pretty confident that he'll play and have his usual impact."

The Wildcats appeared in good spirits after arriving at the arena this morning, as Cameron Tovey and Shawn Redhage re-enacted the latter's game winning block from game two.

Compounding coach Rob Beveridge's injury concerns though is the health of Greg Hire, who played a pivotal role off the bench in game two.

"Right now, Greg (Hire) is very sick," Beveridge said six hours before tip-off.

"He couldn't train yesterday, he's had migraines and been vomiting, things like that, again this morning he couldn't do a whole lot either."

Hire hit a season-high 12 points, and played considerably greater minutes after Tovey found himself in early foul trouble.

Victory tonight for Perth would deliver the club a record sixth NBL championship in its 26th consecutive play-offs campaign.

Coverage of game three from Auckland can be heard live on ABC Grandstand Digital and online from 5:30pm AEST.

Tags: basketball, sport, perth-6000, wa, australia, new-zealand

First posted April 24, 2012 15:38:18

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Blaze fight back to dump Perth

Updated December 18, 2011 00:42:53

The Gold Coast Blaze rose from the dead to seal an extraordinary 77-74 NBL win over the Perth Wildcats on Saturday night.

Trailing by as many as 21 points in the first half, the Blaze appeared set to endure an embarrassing defeat on their home court as Wildcats Kevin Lisch (17 points), Luke Nevill (10) and Matt Knight (9 points, 14 rebounds) ran riot.

But the Blaze turned the tables in dramatic fashion, securing a memorable win with a 44-22 second half.

Boomer Adam Gibson (28 points, 11/15 shooting) was inspirational, launching the rescue mission with three consecutive triples to open the third quarter, while Mark Worthington celebrated his 200th NBL game with a 15-point, nine-rebound performance.

It was a disastrous start for the Blaze, with their opening seven shots rimming out, as Damian Martin and Knight got things moving for the visitors.

Five quick points from Gibson kept the scoreline honest, but Gold Coast's 25 per cent shooting had it trailing 25-18 at the first break.

The Wildcats started the second term quickly with Jesse Wagstaff and Drew Williamson nailing three-pointers to push the lead out to 13.

After piling on 52 points in the opening half though, the Wildcats offence ran dry as Gold Coast surged, Chris Goulding coming to life in the open-court to give Gibson support.

Adris Deleon found his mojo after missing his first seven shots, posting 15 points (5/18 shooting) including the go-ahead basket in the 36th minute, before Gibson gave them a match-winning lead with a strong drive.

Perth had two chances to tie the game on the final play but could not connect.

There was injury to add to insult for the Wildcats, with Knight stretchered from the court with a suspected concussion after crashing heavily in the final term.

AAP

Tags: nbl, basketball, sport, perth-6000, southport-4215, qld, australia, wa

First posted December 17, 2011 23:24:38

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Perth Wheelcats start their season on a roll

One of WA's most successful sporting teams begins their season this weekend - The Perth Wheelcats.

Western Australia's wheelchair basketball competition is a force to be reckoned with in the national competition with the Wheelcats winning the last five consecutive national league competitions.

Wheelcats team captain Justin Eveson, who also happens to be the number one ranked wheelchair basketballer in the world, spoke to 720's Alex Hyman before their first game for the season this weekend.

"We've got one of the better leagues in Australia here; it's renowned around the world for producing some pretty good players."

ABC's Alex Hyman had an attempt at the sport, but needs a lot of practice and was obviously no match for the Wheelcats.

"There is a lot of skill involved. You've got to control the wheelchair, which is a specialist piece of sport equipment, and control the ball while the other team is trying to steal it off you."

Eveson also plays for the Australian wheelchair basketball team, which is the number one team in the world at the moment, and his passion for basketball started at a young age.

"I'd always played basketball as a kid before I had my accident. Once I recovered from that - I had a lower leg amputation - I got involved in wheelchair sports and through that I continued my passion for wheelchair sports."

The sport is always after more public interest and the media are helping by getting on board with coverage.

"It's getting bigger and bigger every year. ABC really got on board with the Paralympics, we've got a lot of radio stations and community news that are involved with us but we really want to ramp that up," Mr Eveson said.

"So for anyone that's got a bit of an interest outside of AFL football then we'd love to have you come down."

The Wheelcats season starts this Saturday at the Herb Graham Centre, 27 Chesterfield Road, Mirrabooka.

Tipoff is at 7pm so get along a bit earlier and support this fantastic team.

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