The remarkable run of the Eltham Wildcats has concluded with winning the NBL1 South championship with Angus Glover and Owen Foxwell leading the charge in the 79-70 win over the Ballarat Miners.
Eltham firstly had to win the last six games of the regular season just to lock in a finals position and from there, beat Geelong United, Mount Gambier Pioneers and then finally the Frankston Blues on the way to the Grand Final.
Ballarat joined them at Dandenong Basketball Stadium on the back of finishing the regular season third and then having to respond to a big loss to Frankston before beating Dandenong and Sandringham to make it.
It set the stage for a mouth watering decider topped off with the added spice of Eltham's Foxwell and Glover at the South East Melbourne Phoenix in the NBL as are Ballarat's coach Luke Brennan along with Luke Rosendale.
The stage was set and Ballarat made the hot start to lead by 12 in the first quarter, but Eltham worked back into the contest and took charge in the second half.
That started with 32 points in the third quarter and then 15 to 10 in a defensive grind of a fourth to secure the championship on their first trip to a Grand Final.
They also won despite going a horrific 2/13 at the free-throw line for the night.
Already an NBL championship hero from his time at the Sydney Kings, Angus Glover is now an Eltham NBL1 legend on the back of delivering 30 points, four rebounds and three assists on 7/16 three-point shooting to be Grand Final MVP.
His South East Melbourne teammate Owen Foxwell wasn’t far behind with 26 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three steals on 4/8 shooting.
Captain Sam Whelan also had some big moments in his nine points for Eltham with Josh Sykes adding seven points and seven rebounds, Zak Cunningham five points and four boards, and Sam Short two points, four assists and three rebounds.
Tyler Rodolph once again came up huge for Ballarat despite the loss with 32 points and 10 rebounds on 16/29 shooting from the field.
Nick Stoddart added 14 points and five rebounds, Majok Majok 11 points and 20 boards, and Luke Rosendale nine points, four boards and three assists.
Ballarat shot out of the blocks with the first six points of the Grand Final before Angus Glover steadied things for Eltham with a three-pointer.
However, the Miners had come out inspired and Nick Stoddart knocked down another three ball, Majok Majok scored inside and then it became 13-5 thanks to Tyler Rudolph.
Majok made it 15-5 with another score inside and Eltham needed a timeout but still by the end of the first quarter it was Ballarat leading 24-12.
Eltham worked right back into the contest in the second quarter and the Wildcats would end up outscoring the Miners 20 points to 12 which saw Ballarat clinging to the 39-32 advantage.
Stoddart then helped put Ballarat back out to a double-figure advantage early in the second half with Rudolph soon stretching that out to 12 points and Eltham needed to respond.
Respond they did beginning with a three ball from Glover. His South East Melbourne teammate Owen Foxwell followed in kind shortly after and then so did Zak Cunningham to make it a five-point ball game.
Glover then completed a three-point play to bring it back to a four-point game and Foxwell hit another pair of triples to tie scores up and the competitive juices were flowing especially between the Phoenix contingent on either side.
Foxwell then scored inside to put Eltham in front with their momentum building with another couple of long-range bombs from Glover helping the Wildcats to 32 points to 21 in the quarter.
That had Eltham leading 64-60 going into the third quarter with Foxwell hitting a huge three to open the final stanza to make it a seven-point Wildcats lead.
That would prove a match-winning advantage because the scoring dried up on either side. Ballarat were still close enough, but scoring was becoming increasingly difficult and the interior presence of Josh Sykes was proving crucial.
That included a huge block on Majok, and in the end with 2:45 on the clock it was a seventh three-point bomb of the Grand Final from Glover that secured the championship triumph for Eltham.
ELTHAM WILDCATS 79 (Glover 30, Foxwell 26, Whelan 9)
BALLARAT MINERS 70 (Rudolph 30, Majok 11, Stoddart 11)
Grand Final MVP: Angus Glover (Eltham)
