Fixtures

Results

Guernsey’s Women win Bronze

The Guernsey Women kept up their strong tradition of success at the Island Games as the secured a Bronze medal in the playoff against Bermuda.

The week started well with a comfortable win over the Isle of Wight before an energy sapping overtime win against Bermuda. Two rest days followed before the semi final against Gibraltar, which in hindsight may have done more harm than good as Guernsey struggled to get in the game from the start. Gibraltar’s early lead grew to more than 15 but a Guernsey rally reduced the deficit to 7 in the third. Unfortunately this effort took too much out of the Guernsey side and they never recovered slipping to a 22 point loss. However any disappointment needed to be forgotten with Bermuda looming the following day.

Right from the off it was obvious this would be another close game with the lead changing hands on numerous occasions. However it was Guernsey that made the decisive break in the fourth quarter hitting crucial shots and stretching the lead to an unassailable 8 points and winning the game with room to spare.

Coach Pat Ogier commented: “It’s not the colour we wanted but there are 12 smiling faces in that changing room right now. Bermuda are a good side and we’ve had two great games against them but ultimately I think we were the better side today – we executed better and hit shots down the stretch that enabled us stay in control, there was no way the team was going to lose this game after yesterday’s disappointment. We’ve got two years now to go away, bring new people through and work on our game and come back better in 2013”.

Guernsey Men continue to make progress

The Guernsey men’s side continue to make progress in what is becoming an extremely high standard of basketball at the Island Games. Pooled only with one other team, Guernsey faced the Cayman Islands twice in 2 days but were guaranteed a quarter final against either Bermuda or Saaremaa. The results in both contests on the face of it would seem like blowouts but the Cayman team were made to work extremely hard on both occasions. It was particularly pleasing to see the improvement from game to game which not only showcased Guernsey’s talents but their positive attitude and commitment to improve and play better. The quarter final against shock group winners Saaremaa was always going to be tough but once again Guernsey fought hard and gave the eventual runners up a tough match-up.

Guernsey’s next opponent would be the Isle Of Wight who themselves had risen to the occasion beating the Isle of Man and showing promise throughout the group stages. In a game that went to double overtime, Guernsey finally prevailed taking the game by 8 points and earning the right to play Menorca in the 5th/6th playoff.

Although this was Guernsey’s last game of a tough week of competition, they threw everything at Menorca and only trailed by a handful of points heading into the third quarter. Guernsey were playing their best basketball and were causing the Spaniards problems inside and out. However, as the game wore on and Guernsey tired, Menorca took advantage getting out on the break and punishing Guernsey turnovers eventually winning the game by 28 points.

The Men can be proud of the performances against the top sides in Island Games basketball and with the junior contingent sure to be around for a number of years, the future looks bright.

Next up Bermuda 2013………..