By JARROD POTTER
BIG V – ROUND 15
CONSOLIDATING its spot atop BIG V Division 2 competition, Casey Cavaliers had to battle tooth and nail to hold off Melbourne University 56-51.
Against all the odds – losing players to injury, mishandling the ball and getting swamped by – the Cavaliers found a way through the quagmire to retain its minor premier status.
A 12-point opening term was highlighted by nine turnovers and six fouls – giving Melbourne Uni too much opportunity at the other end.
“Our first quarter was horrendous – throwing turnovers and not looking after the ball,” Casey coach Michael Davies said.
“Defensively, we weren’t bad, but we just didn’t give ourselves opportunities to score and the frustration of that led to silly fouls.
But Casey saved its best for after the half, completely shutting down the scholars’ attack in a 19-5 third term, led by Tarryn Wilkin (16 points, 14 rebounds) and Cyanne Mather (12 points, seven rebounds).
Ruchelle Mcracken (10 points, eight rebounds) only featured in 18 minutes of action because of an ankle injury sustained in the second half, leaving the heavy lifting up to Wilkin and Mather, especially after Jess Szalek fouled out and Lauren Tuplin left the court after a big hit.
“Having captain down part way through the quarter changed how we played – Tarryn stood up and stood tall as she and Cyanne definitely took a step up,” Davies said.
“The girls took the half time message on board and just got it done – one of the best quarters we’ve played for the year, and I think it was half way through that quarter Ru (Mccracken) went down with an ankle injury.
“They only made a layup on the buzzer at three-quarter time and we nearly had them – two baskets in a quarter – and that’s something we were pretty happy with.”
Allowing the scholars only five field goals in the second half, boiled down to the high-level defence clamping down and picking off rebounds at will.
With the other talls out of the action, “Tarry and the mosquitoes” as Davies put it, held it together at the death to make sure the scoreline wasn’t reflective of the overall performance.
With Bec Magdich (thumb) also out, it leaves Casey without two starters heading into a precarious last three weeks of the regular season – facing Mornington, North East and Blackburn in the lead- up to finals.
“Our goal from the very start was top three and we’ve nearly achieved that – ideally you want to get two out of the three wins to achieve that,” Davies said. “Mornington is a team we can get, North East is a team we want to get, especially while they’re in great form, and Blackburn been that team to get after and they got us the first time.”
Sharing the load, Casey’s men had a canter over Keilor 77-58 away on Saturday night. On the back of a team-wide effort – led by Dean Johnson (13 points, eight rebounds), Matt Witherden (12 points) and Ben Louis (10 points) – the side punished the Thunder early.
A 29-16 first term had the gap explode early before Casey slammed the throttle even further to take a 51-27 lead at the half.
Keilor made a match of it in the second half, as Stewart Baird split the minutes in the walk-over triumph to give Casey a two-game break on fourth placed Melton.
Sam Pike (25 points, 12 rebounds) went ballistic in the Youth Men’s 83-62 victory over Western Port on Sunday afternoon, alongside Nathan Dodgson (16 points), Will Pask (eight points) and Tim Reeves (eight points).
The men face a double header against Sunbury away on Saturday night before hosting Mildura on Sunday; Casey’s women head to Mornington on Saturday night while the Youth Men battle Mildura at home on Sunday afternoon.
