The AIS Men took on the undefeated Spanish team in game 3 of their tour of China tonight in what was a hard fought battle.  Living up to their record the Spanish jumped out to an early lead of 15-4 in the first quarter.  Sensing the game slipping away early the AIS men stepped up their defence to go on an 8-0 run and bring the margin back to 3 points.  Unfortunately the AIS were not able to sustain this momentum with the Spanish team closing out the quarter 23-12 for a 9 point lead.  Poor containment leading to fouls under the basket was an area that needed to be addressed by the AIS Men as Spain went to the line 10 times in the opening quarter.

In the second quarter the Spaniards increased their lead as they were able to capitalise on forced turnovers.  There were moments of brilliance for the AIS, and signs that the players were becoming far more comfortable within the team offensive system, but unfortunately it was not enough to stop Spain moving ahead 45-19 at the major break.

The message from Coach Stacker was clear.  “Let’s get back to the ‘WE’ mentality.  Too many players are focused on their own individual situation.  The only way we can claw back into this is as a team”.  The message seemed to hit home, with the AIS men going on an 8-0 run to force Spain into an early timeout in the third.  Out of the timeout a great team rotation on the defensive end forced another turnover followed by an Owen Odigie transition basket to bring the margin back to a manageable 16 points.  The margin stayed around this mark for the majority of the third quarter with some great play by Spain extending the margin to 20 right on the three quarter time buzzer.  Still, the AIS went into the last quarter of play knowing they could match it with Spain, having just won the 3^rd quarter by 6.

The final quarter of play was extremely tight.  The AIS men did a great job of implementing the team rotations that had been drilled for the Spanish Offense, creating a number of turnovers.  At the other end of the court Spain’s defence was also rock solid.  AIS youngster Josh Derkson and AIS captain Owen Odigie both had big last quarters, each throwing down a big dunk through traffic.  NSW big men Nick Kaye and Matt Andronicos both had their best games for the tournament so far as well which was a pleasing sign for the AIS.  The final result was a win to Spain 79-51 but with a lot of positives to be taken from the match by the AIS.  

Match report by  Mathew Neason