TIGERS has staged a titanic comeback against St Mary’s Orange in the Hamilton Basketball Association (HBA) women’s division one competition on Tuesday night to claim the points, 27-25.

Tigers led the scoring at the start of the game to open a three-point lead and they appeared to be on track to claim victory, but St Mary’s Orange refused to allow the Tigers to hold sway in the latter half of the first term and soon reeled in the gap and then took the lead.

By the time of the buzzer for the break, St Mary’s Orange had opened a five-point gap and was in control as Grace Cleaver (eight points) held the hot hand with the scoreboard reading 15-10.

The second period opened with each team determined to defend and the first points weren’t registered until three minutes had passed as the Saints extend the margin to seven points.

From there the game turned on its head as Tigers took control at both ends of the court outscoring the Saints 17-8 as they came from behind to claim the game.

Rhianne Lewis (10 points) was Tigers’ highest scorer, but Ava Murrihy gave her great support with eight points, while the defensive end kept Cleaver to only one point for the second half as she finished with nine for the game.

St Mary’s Black had a walkover victory against sister team St Marys White which was forced to forfeit.

Men’s Division 1

Minders d. Barber Boys

MINDERS produced a brilliant first half against Barber Boys to set up a comprehensive victory on Wednesday night, 62-37.

Josh Miller came to play, and he had three, three-pointers in his keeping with only two minutes of the game played as Minders took an early lead.

Austin Mayfield added two buckets of his own as the lead ballooned out to 10 points and Barber Boys called its first time out.

The game proceeded like before and by the time the half time buzzer sounded, Minders had a 19-point margin on the scoreboard, 29-10.

Barber Boys returned to the court and quickly looked to reduce the margin with Sam English shooting from outside in the first minute of the half.

From there the game was much more even as the ball travelled up and down the court and the baskets began to add up.

Despite a much-improved performance in the second term, Barber Boys couldn’t reel in the margin, but it did manage to give the spectators something to cheer about.

Miller was the game high scorer with 24 points including five three-pointers while Angus Hayden-Simpson (10 points) and Austin Mayfield (11 points) gave Miller great support.

St Mary’s Orange d. St Mary’s Black

THE late timeslot saw undefeated ladder leader, St Mary’s Orange, have to pull out all stops to ensure it overcame sister team St Mary’s Black, 49-30.

The first half was an arm wrestle as neither team gave the other an inch, but St Mary’s Black came from being seven points down after five minutes, to lead by six points with six minutes to play.

It looked likely that the Black team would have the lead at the half, but Deacon White stepped up to drop eight points and Orange led 22-20 at the buzzer.

From there on it was the Orange team all the way as they outscored St Mary’s Black by 17 points in the second half with White leading the way with 24 points.