Tuesday night was the finals for the basketball main season competition at the Telecom Sports Arena.

Playing for third and fourth womens placing were Yachties Hotties versus the Devlins.

Both teams started short of players but definitely not attitude.

Hungry for the win the Hotties put up a lot of shots, but the ball was reluctant to go in and fast passing by the Devlins got the ball into the Hotties danger zone quick. It was ultimately converted by the Devlins star of the night Nancy Teulilo.

More Hotties turned up to play and with them the intensity of the game, as with extra manpower the Hotties switched to a full court press, much to the chagrin of a wilting four player Devlins, who managed to win 34-23.

Next up the Philos took on the Hotdogs in the battle for 3rd and 4th in the mens division. Bookies were split as to which way the game would go. Traditionally the easy money would be on the Hot Dogs - theyre one of the highest point scoring teams in the comp (almost 40 every game), and all the players are potentially dangerous.

But last time they played Philos it was a draw.

Philos players always come with their top game, but sometimes it feels as if theyre in competition with each other rather than their opponents. Not so on grand finals night.

They played as one and the Hot Dogs got eaten.

Philos dominated under the boards with the physical power of Char and Johnos amazing hang time in the air.

Picking up the dirty ball was Marlon and Munching converting regularly and leading the Philos to victory 32-20.

In the womens competitions, A-Town and Ekes have been battling for pride of place since the start of the season with the stats showing that in the three previous showdowns A-Town had the edge with two wins.

Both teams came out blazing with half court presses, but eight minutes in, A-Town found themselves 6 points down.

After a time out to re-group they made a comeback, trailing by two points at half time.

In the second half both teams upped the ante and play was hard and tight but a subtle difference between the teams proved to be A-Towns undoing.

A-Town throughout the competition have played with a core team of 6 or 7 players, but for the final however the ranks had swollen to 9 or 10. Eke Girls on the other hand have consistently had their complete team on hand at almost every game, the upshot being they knew their game before the finals which ultimately helped theEke Girls take the championship 28-23.

A little like Brazil vs Germany in soccer, Rentraro vs Roaster hire in basketball are two very different teams playing the same game.

Roaster Hire had a strong line up of shooters, the height and also the discipline to make winning plays.

Rentraro had key players and great support.

Oddly in the first quarter not a lot happened, as if both teams had forgotten why they were there.

Roasters effective boxing out of Brendan Heath left Rentraro hamstrung until number 8 Pae opened the bidding with 4 points closely followed by Roaster number 9 matching it.

Roasters focus on keeping Heath away from the boards meant Rentraro had to make points from the outside, patient set ups were converted into two and three point plays.

Roaster Hire stuck to their game plan on attack but the planets refused to align themselves, and normally easy shots (for Roaster Hire at least) refused to convert.

By the final quarter Roasters mindset had altered to one of survival and with it the tone of the game.

The final insult to Roasters injury was Heaths slam dunk in the last 7 seconds as Rentraro took the win 46-25.

All good things must come to an end, and so it has with Cook Islands Basketballs Main season 2011. Watch this space for upcoming events.