Knox Raiders Sean Carroll, Mick Hall, C. J. Massingale and Cam Rigby last week flew the Australian flag at a tournament in Qatar.
By Greg Oakford
FOUR Knox Raiders guided the Australian SEABL Select team to a 2-0 series win over the Qatar national team last week in Doha, Qatar.
The Raiders featured more representatives than any other SEABL club with C. J. Massingale, Sean Carroll, Mick Hill and Cam Rigby all representing the green and gold internationally.
Adding to the Knox contingency was head coach Bruce Palmer, the basketball operations manager and senior director of coaching at Knox Basketball.
The series started on Monday night (Qatar time) and it was sixth-year Raiders import and two-time SEABL scoring champion, C. J. Massingale who led the way for the Australian team. Massingale scored a game-high 20 points at 54 per cent including three of six from the three-point line.
Playing the supporting role was Sandringham Sabres centre Simon Conn who poured in 18 points at 58 per cent to go with six rebounds.
Conn was a catalyst in his team’s match-winning third quarter performance, scoring 10 points at 100 per cent in a four-minute span that helped the Australians outscore their counterparts 30-15 for the term.
Providing a lending hand in a relatively even spread of minutes played were Raiders starters Mick Hill (five points), Sean Carroll (three rebounds, two assists) and Cam Rigby (6, 3).
Rigby was also named co-captain prior to the first game along with Brisbane Spartan Ash Cannan.
The final score read 79-65 with the Australians winning all but the fourth quarter in game one.
In game two on Wednesday evening it was again Australia who recorded a comfortable 77-61 victory in Doha to clinch a 2-0 series result.
Australia led by 12 points at half-time but let Qatar back into the game as Qatar fought back to trail by four points with two minutes remaining in the third term.
Massingale once again led the Aussies with 26 points at 71 per cent and five of eight, showing why he is considered to be the SEABL competition’s most prolific scorer.
Sandringham Sabres’ Daniel Dillon was instrumental in the turn-around in the fourth quarter, finishing with nine, three and five.
Australia limited Qatar to only 10 points in the second quarter, but Qatar played better in the third as athletic guards Erfan Ali and Tanguy Alban continually drove to the basket and troubled the Aussies.
Also scoring in double figures for the Australian team was Frankston Blues import Rob Kampman who had a solid all-round performance with 11, seven and three. And fFeaturing well again for the Raiders were the trio of Hill, Rigby and Carroll, who all provided quality minutes for the Aussies.
Australia’s head coach Bruce Palmer was excited with his team’s performance and happy with the input from all 11 players.
“The boys looked tired in the third quarter, but they showed true Aussie spirit to lift in the fourth quarter and produce the victory,” he said.
“The group looked like a team that had played many games together, so I’m very impressed with the teamwork.
“Considering the lack of training the team has had together, I was very impressed how they played together as a team.”
The Raiders will face local rival Nunawading at 8pm on Saturday 13 March at Knox Converse Stadium.
