More upsets as Olympians outgun CBC in Goldfields men’s division one preliminary final

Goldfields Basketball Association’s division one finals series delivered another upset on Monday night when Olympians ended CBC’s men’s title hopes with a 75-72 victory in the preliminary final.

Olympians emerged from the qualifiers in last place with three wins — eight less than CBC, and had not beaten them in five previous head-to-head clashes this season.

But in a major twist in the run to this Saturday night’s grand final, Nick Shaw put up a game-high 23 points and Mitch Sheppard scored 21 to power Olympians’ upset win.

Jaydan Doel (10 points), Garry Sidebottom (10) and Aiden Caliskan (six) rounded out the scoring for Olympians.

Luca Basten was CBC’s offensive leader with 18 points.

After beating Franchise in round two, Olympians lost nine consecutive games before finally breaking through again in round 12 against flag favourites Saints.

The red-and-whites backed it up with a round 14 victory against Franchise and despite losing the last qualifying round against Saints, they stayed alive in the flag race by winning the elimination final against Franchise, 84-67.

CBC went on a four-game winning streak late in the season before it was broken in round 14 — the first of three losses in four games to end the season.

Olympians play Saints in Saturday night’s grand final, starting at 8.10pm.

The upset follows a similar result in the women’s division one semifinal last Friday, where CBC, which had not won a game all season, defeated Saints to march into the women’s grand final, also on Saturday night.