Damien Scott had a 350-game experience he will never forget but he hopes his 351st NBL1 West game is just as memorable as that initial vision to reach a Grand Final at Willetton Tigers has paid off nearly a decade later.
Scott celebrated the 350th game of his decorated career that started back at the Cougars and included a 2012 SBL championship before now being with Willetton since 2015 in the most remarkable fashion last Saturday night.
His 349th game was certainly an occasion to savour too when he played in his first winning final with Willetton since the quarter finals of 2017 as Marshall Nelson lit up his former Rockingham Flames team with 48 points as the Tigers came up 19 points down to win in style.
The reward was a trip to Geraldton to play the defending champion Buccaneers in what is the most daunting task of the competition. But in Scott's 350-game milestone, Willetton were brilliant opening up a 31-point lead and then holding out the Buccs late to advance to the Grand Final.
In a career that has seen him do so much across 350 games in the league and already win a championship, he initially joined Willetton to experience success with close friends. Almost a decade a later they have finally got to the club's first men's Grand Final since 2010.
"It was obviously a good one to have my milestone in that's for sure," Scott said.
"It's a lot of games and to get that little bit of reward is something I'll always remember. Hopefully we can now back it up on Saturday night and I'll remember my 350th and 351st games for the rest of my life that's for sure."
Keeping the faith with the Tigers
It wasn’t as if Scott was desperate to leave Cockburn going back to the end of the 2014 season given he started playing with the Cougars in the SBL aged 17, he played in the championship in 2012 and earned a chance in the NBL at the Perth Wildcats on the back of that.
However, when Alan Black recruits you, it's hard to say no and Scott wanted to join Willetton to play with some of his best friends. He's now got to do that over the years including Nic Cody, Kyle Armour and Josh Johnson.
While that trio is no longer there, he will get to play in Saturday night's Grand Final with Andrew Black as his captain and with long-time teammates Michael Vigor, Travis Fee, Tom Gerovich and now first time NBL1 West teammate, Marshall Nelson.
Whether it was with Alan Black, Steve Black or now Adam Nener as coach, Scott always had faith that if Willetton kept persisting, success would come and despite plenty of finals heartbreak, they are now into a Grand Final.
"Obviously when I came to Willo I wanted to be part of a winning culture, but I also wanted to do it with people who are some of my mates," Scott said.
"Some of them have moved on, but some of them are still there and be winning in that environment is the best thing about it.
"To be able to do it after we've been knocking on the door is the cream, but it's this group that we've got that makes it special. Willo has always been such a tight-knit group and players have come and gone, but we always maintain that culture and that's something we are proud of.
"We've had the right feel around the place for so long and that will make it the sweetest thing to be part of this with the group that we’ve got."
Sharing it with the captain
There are a whole host of people that Scott has loved playing with at Willetton since coming across in 2015, but it's only captain Andrew Black who has been there the entire time with him.
The Black's family legacy at Willetton and basketball in WA in general is sealed, but Scott couldn’t be happier for Andrew to now have the chance to captain the Tigers into a Grand Final.
"I really can't speak highly enough of the bloke. On and off the court he's one of those guys that I'm best mates with and it's going to mean so much to him to be leading us into a Grand Final," Scott said.
"The amount that he's put in over his career to get to this point is unbelievable and I know what it's taken for him over the years. It's going to be special for him that's for sure."
Turning it around last weekend
Reaching a Grand Final is never meant to be easy and Scott knows that all too well from how the majority of his seasons at the Tigers have seen them put themselves in contention, but not quite be able to fire fully come finals time.
They did finish in top spot back in 2017 before coming up against a rampant Perth Redbacks, and then in two of the last three seasons they finished third but lost in straight sets.
That looked a real prospect again when Willetton finished the regular season in third position but had struggled late losing five of the last six matches and then going down to Joondalup in the qualifying final to 18 points.
Then the Tigers found themselves 19 points down to the Rockingham Flames in last Thursday night's semi-final and the drought of not having won a final since 2017 looked likely to continue.
The next seven quarters of basketball that Willetton delivered was remarkable. It was sparked by 48 points from Marshall Nelson in that eventual win over Rockingham before they went up to Geraldton and knocked out the Buccs to reach the Grand Final.
Beating the champions of the last two years in the space of 48 hours having not won a final at all in seven years was quite a remarkable way for Scott to be part of that winning feeling again.
"We were obviously pretty disappointed with what we were seeing and we knew we had so much more we could do, and that it would be a game of runs," Scott said.
"I remember thinking that we were chipping away but they were still scoring and then obviously we made that little bit of a run.
"It was just about staying aggressive and sticking with what we were doing because we weren’t playing that badly, we were just missing shots and things weren’t going our way. Then obviously Marty couldn’t miss really and it was incredible to see what he did."
Remarkable Marshall Nelson performance
Speaking of what Nelson did especially against Rockingham last Thursday night, Scott doesn’t know exactly how strong his motivation was against his old team and how he would have been feeling with Willetton 19 points down, but he was sure happy he was on his side.
"Just in terms of the situation and everything, it was such a big moment for everybody and for him more than any of us so to see what he did was just incredible," Scott said.
"For him to be able to flick the switch like he did, I don’t even know what would have been going through his head at the point we were 19 points down.
"But there would have been a bit of motivation there for sure and I don’t know if I've ever seen anyone do something like that with my own two eyes in a game that I've played in."
Always having that belief
Even when Willetton lost five of the last six games of the regular season and even after losing the qualifying final to the Wolves, and even when 19 points down against the Flames, Scott and his Tigers teammates had that belief.
A lot of that was because Willetton had won 14 of the first 16 games of the season, and knowing that they had been building over the last four years since Nener arrived as coach back to the club he played in a championship with in 2010.
Because of all that, Scott still had great confidence that Willetton would do what they have now down which is make a Grand Final.
"We just kept on having that belief to be honest and we know when we play our best basketball that we can beat anybody in the league," Scott said.
"We showed that at the start of the season and then obviously we went through that little slump towards the end, but we know that we are so capable of playing at a high level.
"So we went up there and didn’t have any doubts in our mind about beating them. We knew what we had to do to get the win and we executed that plan that we had almost perfectly for a lot of the game.
"So we weren’t surprised at all and we were rolling especially in that first half when we were shooting the ball quite well, but they were all shots we want to be taking. It was just one of those nights where we couldn’t miss for a while and it was fun to be part of."
Rare win in Geraldton adds to that belief
Scott could count on one hand how many wins he has play in over 350 games in Geraldton, but he'll never forget that in game 350 it was a win on the road to the Buccs and the result is, that gives Willetton the great belief that they can do anything.
"I don’t know how I'm going to think about it into the future, but it feels like it will be one of those wins that you really remember for the rest of your life," Scott said.
"It's such a tough place to go and play and the Buccs are such a good team, but you start to think if you can go and get a win like that then maybe we've found the special recipe to go on and do something really special this year.
"Only time will tell but we've definitely had some heartbreakers up in Gero and over my whole career we haven’t had a whole lot of wins there. It made it sweeter to get this one for sure."
Playing at RAC Arena again
Scott is one of the few players who will be out there on Saturday night's Grand Final to have played at RAC Arena previously, although all that really sticks out from his Perth Wildcats memories of when he hit the court as a development player was how nervous he was.
He expects there to be nerves still there on Saturday night too, but now as a 350-game veteran who is 31 years of age, he feels he'll be able to embrace the occasion more than have the nerves overcome him.
"It absolutely makes it feel more exciting and it's probably like 10 times to be honest. If they can sell a lot of tickets, it's going to be such a great atmosphere and it will be totally different to what it was like when I was at the Wildcats all those years ago," Scott said.
"It's going to be crazy and I can't wait to be part of it. When I think back, I was so young when I did play there and it's hard to remember how I was feeling.
"I obviously remember winning the championship and getting on the court for the first time, but I can't remember that feeling except for how nervous I was.
"I get nervous even talking about it still and I still have nerves before every game, but there'll be even more before this game for sure given it's not only a GF but on a court you never get to play on. There'll be a lot of excitement there as well."
