Saturday was grand final day for the Noosa Cyclones SBL men’s team who travelled to the sunshine coast uni to take on Suncoast RIP in what was expected to be a very tough game, Cyclones were missing their two big men with Nelson back in the States and Mark Braithwaite who had been a tower of strength throughout the season, joining  the Army and there are no weekend leave passes during training.

The boys were positive and arrived ready to play – Rip won the tap but great hustle saw the Cyclones steal control and get the first points on the board, Coach Aaron Nagas had the arduous task of containing their big men and try and keep them out of key and scoring range, a feat he managed with great skill and strength, drawing several smart fouls and  still managed to hit 15 points in the first  half to maintain the Cyclones lead going in to the third.

 The boys continued to work hard throughout the third quarter but Jason Blamey was in foul trouble due to his great hustle defence which always makes the opposition work harder for their points, saving him for the last gave court time opportunities to Nick Veness and Lachie Caple who both contributed to the score.  

 The bigger older bodies of RIP was starting to take its toll on the young Cyclones and as they grew increasingly tired the game started to slowly change but heading into the last quarter a couple of points down was not a deterrent and the boys continued to fight hard and dive on every loose ball and hustle hard; it was only in the dying minutes when they had expended every ounce of energy that they conceded several fast break baskets from RIP allowing them to take the Gold medal.  The Cyclones had worked hard all season for this moment and the never-say-die attitude of this group of Local young men is to be commended – sadly the oppositions big men didn’t get any smaller as the game went on and the extra work the Cyclones had to do to contain them was difference in the end. 

 Silver medal winners still give the Cyclones the opportunity to contest a spot in the higher division for next season and if this group sticks together will be definite contenders.