SBL Men v Sunshine Coast Phoenix by Michael Van Dongen
The game started out very evenly with both teams trading
baskets and neither team was able to break away to a
substantial lead.
The SBL Men had a 2 point lead at the end of the first half,
and were confident of extending their lead and coming
away with a win.
During the 3rd qtr. Sun Coast Phoenix had other ideas as
they were able to get out of the blocks better than us in the
3rd, opening up a 7 point lead 49 to 42, we fought back to
be down by 2 at the end of the qtr.
The 4th qtr. Was a better one for us as we eventually took
control and got out to a 5 point lead of our own, then we
faced a fightback from the Phoenix who were not letting
us get away, and pulled the margin back. We were able to
get out to a 4 point lead with 21 seconds to go after Didan
Toto made a huge 3 point shot, however Phoenix answered
straight back with a 3 pointer of their own reducing the lead
to 1, Ramy Kodi then got fouled and made 1 of his FT’s and
we had a 2 point lead with 14 seconds left.
Phoenix then came down and missed 2 shots and on the
3rd attempt we fouled their big man who went to line with
1 second remaining. He calmly made both Ft’s and we went
into Overtime for the first time this season.
During Overtime the real SBL men showed up defensively
which led to 3 made 3 point shots in the first 2 minutes of
Overtime and we ran out 7 point winners 91 to 84.
We had great contributions from most of our team, who
are continuing to answer the challenges thrown at us.
Despite the slight mishap 2 weeks ago against Gold Coast
who are starting to show they are better than their record
shows, we are happy with the progress we are making with
a young team.
The best for us this week were
- Didan Toto 32 points
- Ramy Kodi 20 points
- Johnson Eltima 9 points, as well as scoring a few baskets
- Johnson also did a good job on Phoenix’s best shooter
keeping him to 13 points.
QBL Men Game v Southern Districts by Sean Connelly
The weekend saw us take a long Friday night drive up
the Coast to face off against pool rivals Sunshine Coast
Phoenix. Phoenix was looking to climb the table and
solidify a spot in the top 8 while on the other hand, we
were looking to continue our undefeated run.
Phoenix boasted an experienced team, pairing veterans
such as the Meehl brothers along with formidable force
Eric McAlister. This group along with an up and coming
star Darnel Robeteau were to be tough adversaries.
On the other end of the spectrum we were coming into
this match up missing one of our more dynamic players
in Ben Wilson as he had work commitments in Townsville
he couldn’t liberate himself of. Will Magnay and Ben
Volkman were also still out which again made us severely
undersized. On the upside however, Captain Zac Carter
was to make his return to the floor playing limited minutes
after being injured for a substantial amount of time.
The question which needed to be answered, was how
we were going to stop Eric McAlister, as he is a threat
from both the three-point line with his shooting ability
and a force inside the paint. The answer lay right in front
of our eyes, as our coaches expertly decided to give
the assignment to one of our best defensive players in
Anthony Kopcikas. Anthony did quite a job on him, forcing
him to a rough 10-25 shooting night as he hounded Eric on
his stint on-court. This really sums up how well our group
rises towards challenges and faces adversity as Anthony’s
defensive efforts really set the theme for the entire ball
game.
The beginning of the game saw us establish the
foundation on which we would build on. We started
slow and sluggish, not scoring in the first 2 minutes while
Phoenix seemed to be igniting from 3-point land. This
series of events led to the home team establishing an
early 8-3 lead which would be short lived. After the initial
minutes, there was a change in our guys, as a switch
flicked and we began playing a tough brand of defence.
This directly resulted in the remainder of the quarter
becoming a grind with a 18-22 score being evidence of
such. However, we felt that offensively we were bound to
explode soon as we were getting any shot we pleased as
shown by Tim Soong’s timely cuts to create layups and
consecutive three point shots by Jacob Wilson.
The second term of the ball game was when we began
functioning offensively and scoring the ball at a high
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