ANGUS Glover was the hero as the Eltham Wildcats made it to the National Basketball League (NBL)1 South Men’s Grand Final after defeating the Frankston Blues by two points in the weekend’s Preliminary Final.

With just four sides remaining for season 2024, the Wildcats travelled to Dreamstreet Lending Arena to take on the Blues in a highly anticipated clash. Frankston finished higher on the ladder and advanced straight through to the penultimate matchup, while Eltham was forced to survive two elimination bouts to get to Saturday night’s matchup.

After a low-scoring first quarter, where both sides put a heavy emphasis on scrappy defence, the Wildcats defied the crowd to jump ahead of the home team, leading by three points at the main break. The third quarter again belonged to Eltham, extending its lead out to 10 points with a quarter to play. As expected, the Blues came home like a wet sail, actually hitting the front via a Stokely Chaffee lay-up with 20 seconds to play.

However, there was still enough time for one more shot for the Wildcats, and it was Glover who was given the responsibility. Taking the ball to half-court, he waved off the screen from his teammate in favour of an isolation play. Dribbling to his left, he pulled up at the three-point line, and sank the clutch shot to give Eltham the lead and eventual 76-74 win.

It capped off a tremendous showing from the tough guard, who carried his side all night with a herculean performance that single-handedly got the Wildcats into the big dance.

Glover posted a whopping 36 of his side’s points, nearly half of the total score posted by the Wildcats for the entire match. He was simply on fire from behind the arc and was the biggest factor in Eltham booking a place in the deciding match.

He knocked down 10 three-pointers on 18 attempts, including the match-winner described above. The defence simply gave him too much room, and he is too good of a player to not punish Frankston’s poor defending.

From the field, he shot 13/21, including a perfect 3/3 from inside the arc. It was one of his most efficient scoring performances of the season, and came at exactly the right time as well.

He also crashed the boards and recorded a double-double with 10 rebounds, nine of which came on the defensive end and sparked some transition offence for Eltham.

It was a big-game performance from a player who has performed in crucial matches so many times in the past, and Glover will undoubtedly play a key role for the Wildcats in this weekend’s Grand Final.