Johny Narkle ignites in massive 44-point game to send Olympians into Geraldton Amateur Basketball grand final

Last year Johny Narkle proved he was a man for the big moments and he’s once again made a statement in a massive 44-point game in Tuesday night’s qualifying final. After an MVP performance in the NBL1 West grand final for the Geraldton Buccaneers last year, Narkle went ballistic to stun Chapman Valley in a 88-84 victory at Activewest Stadium. Chapman Valley had been the cream of the competition, winning 14 straight games and only losing their final regular season game when they rested a couple of big names. But the minor premiers are now in danger of missing the grand final altogether as Narkle came up trumps over two of his former Buccs’ captains. Narkle is one of the best shooters in WA and wasted no time draining his first three within the opening 10 seconds in a sign of things to come. He had 10 points inside eight minutes as the Olympians jumped out to an early lead and his third three of the quarter put them up by 10 at the break. If the Valley thought a break would give them a reprieve they were wrong as Narkle drained two straight threes to start the second quarter and the lead was suddenly 16 points. With the game slipping away, Buccs captain Aaron Ralph fired back with his own long bomb and tough baskets but Narkle hit another three as the Olympians moved to a game-high 18-point lead. Ralph and former Buccs captain Mathew Wundenberg hit back as the Valley went on a huge run, scoring 17 straight points to cut the lead down to three. Narkle stopped the bleeding with the last five points of the quarter to leave it 50-42 at the break as he recorded 32 first-half points. The teams traded baskets in the third with Wundenberg finding his range while the Olympians found a spread of points more evenly across the board, with Narkle kept quiet. But he came back with seven points in the last five minutes as Chapman Valley trailed by 11 points with a quarter to go. It was back and forth in the last but the Olympians were happy to trade out and kept their healthy buffer. However, there was a late twist in the tail as Ralph drew on all his reserves to hit seven straight points in the space of two minutes to tie the game up with two minutes left on the clock. Ralph hit his fourth three and his 31st point of the night as Valley led for the first time all-night with less than 30 seconds to go. The Olympians called a time out but everyone knew where the ball was going. With less than 10 seconds to go, Narkle drained his ninth three-pointer to put the Olympians back in the lead and capped off his night with a steal after a Valley time-out to finish with 44 points in an almost delirious display. Ralph (31) and Wundenberg (26) combined for 57 points but it fell short as the Olympians just managed to scrape together enough points from the rest of their line-up to claim the four-point win. They progress straight to the grand final while Valley will now face the Hawks in the preliminary final after they smashed the Pumas 98-85.