Wild Wild Week

Well I hope there was enough excitment for you last week.

The JV's hosted GM in a battle for second place. If the Mariners could win by 2 or more then they would clinch themselves soul possesion of  2nd place in the southern conference. The Mariners had Dylan Hall returning to the lineup from injury for the first time since early Dec, but were missing Tanner Thompson.  From the jump ball the Mariners appeared ready to play and were out working their opponents at both ends. In the first half the Mariners managed to get everyone into the ball game and still hold an 8 point advantage.

In the 2nd half the Mariners put on big pushes early in both the 3rd and 4th quarters to build comfortable leads.  It was with 4 minutes to go in the 4th down 27 that the visitors finally emptied their bench and conceeded defeat. The home side did the same leading to a furious finish with GM''s bench playing hard and Fundy coasting to a 12 point victory.

That Thursday the JV Mariners went to visit the undefated RNS Riverhawks looking to avenge an 8 point loss from the previous week. The Mariners were at full strength for the first time in 2010 and the Riverhawks were missing their best player. This led to a massive turnaround from the previous week with the Mariners winning by close to 45 points.

The only Varsity action last week had the boys at Grand Manan late friday night. Following the girls game the boys went out and ended up in a wild affair on the Island. In an emotional  game in front of large crowd the short handed Mariners were in all sorts of foul trouble which led to a 12 point defecit at half time.

Coming out in the 2nd half with 4 players in foul trouble and facing an energized hostile crowd the Mariners responded, with a great defensive effort highlighted by Jon Henry and Sean Dougan's work to deny the Breakers best player the ball for most of the 1/2. While the game remained intense the Mariners tough defense forced turnover after turnover, though some poor shooting and decision making  didn't allow them to  bridge the gap quickly.

Over the whole of the 2nd half Fundy battled back finally tieing the game late leading to a very exciting last minute. With the game tied and less than 40 seconds to play Jon Henry went to the line for the Mariners. He missed both free throws but offensively rebounded his own miss and was fouled again to return to the line.

Once again with the game on the line he was unable to capitalize on his free throw chances but Jarrad Weston rebounded the 2nd miss putting it back up and in for the Mariners first lead since early in the game. The home team came down the floor and was fouled on a shot attempt with 11 seconds left. Going to the line with a chance to tie the game the Breakers best player missed the front end and then connected on the 2nd shot.

Down one and needing to foul to get the ball back the home team picked up full court for the first time all night. Trying to find an open teammate the Ryan Gallagher hoisted a pass the length of the floor that was deflected and bounced away from 2 Mariners before ending up out of bounds back in the hands of the home team. They home squad came down the floor turning the ball over under tremendous pressure from the Mariners.

After a time out the visitors inbounded the ball safely and sent one of the teams best free throw shooters Greg Healy to the line with a chance to push the lead to 3. Unfortunately he  missed both giving the Breakers a chance to throw the ball long, only a have it tipped and have the game end with a broken play and the ball rolling about on the floor. This left the Mariners winners by a narrow margin of 63-62.