BASKETBALL SHEPPARTON:- Blasters are mastered (SNews) GATORS GAIN REVENGE ON SEYMOUR AFTER PUTTING SWORD TO CANNONS Revenge was sweet and swift for Shepparton Gators, who saw off Seymour Blasters at Shepparton Sports Stadium on Sunday. The home side’s most disappointing performance of the Country Basketball League season came at the hands of the Blasters in the reverse fixture last month, but there were no signs of such struggles second time around. The 74-60 win completed a solid weekend for the Gators, who thrashed Castlemaine Cannons 93-60 on Saturday night. Gators coach Russell Parker was pleased with his team’s efforts, particularly after half-time of Sunday’s contest. ‘‘We wanted to prove we were better than last time,’’ Parker said. ‘‘We had a completely different team to that game, so it wasn’t really comparable. ‘‘They were up two at halftime, but we had a really good third quarter and that gave us an eight-point lead at three-quarter time and we continued on from there.’’ Young centre Nick Dodd retained his spot in the starting five for both games, despite the return of agile big David Woodcock. Dylan Wayman led the scoring with 21 points and it was Woodcock’s younger brother John who offered the biggest spark off the bench, with 17 points. ‘‘John is such an athletic player and provides an inside presence for us,’’ Parker said. ‘‘Dave only trained last week, so I didn’t think it was fair to put him in as a starter straight away, when the other guys have been putting in the hard yards.’’ Defence was the key against the Blasters and Jack Threlfall led the way as the Gators held danger men Marc Sartori, Jordan Hockley and Christian Brock to a combined eight points and Robbie Sartori to 11. The Gators were even more businesslike on Saturday night, dispatching the visiting Cannons with relative ease. A monster 35 points to 11 opening quarter allowed Parker to insert his role players off the bench early in the game and while the Cannons launched a fightback in the second term, it was short lived. ‘‘We got away to a good start, but our starting five is a good group,’’ Parker said. ‘‘We knew we had Seymour the next day, so we just kept that in mind.’’ Tom Crowe and Aaron Fry were two of the best performers off the bench, while Threlfall was the pick of the starters, only putting up five points, but producing a fine defensive display. Wayman (23 points) and Matt Bartlett (21) led the scoring, with much of their good work coming from outside, combining for six three-pointers. The wins lifted the Gators above the Blasters to third on the ladder. Next week’s bye is followed by a showdown with unbeaten round three conqueror Albury Cougars.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 21:50:46 +0000