Cavaliers crushed

By Gavin Staindl
SATURDAY was not a day to remember for the Cranbourne Cavaliers as the Big V basketball team was handed crushing losses in both the Division Two men’s league and the State Youth league.
A packed crowd squeezed in for the season’s first double-header at Cranbourne Basketball Stadium, but left empty handed as the junior and senior teams were comprehensively beaten.
The men’s team was handed a 54-80 runaway loss to Melton while the youth team went down to Werribee 38-60.
Kicking off proceedings on Saturday night was the Cavs’ State Youth team, which was blown apart by Werribee.
The Devils went into half time with a commanding 11-33 lead and cruised through the second half to record a comfortable victory.
Cranbourne’s Jake Sparshott was best on court for the Cavs, registering 12 points and 10 boards – including four offensive.
It was a similar situation in the men’s game, as the Cavs blew a second quarter lead to lose 54-80 to Melton.
Midway through the second quarter Cranbourne snuck ahead but the Thoroughbreads went on a 7-20 run, entering the main break with a 25-36 lead.
Jayden McMillan went five from 11 from the field while Jesse Henderson contributed 12 points for the losing side.
Despite having more looks at the basket (67-65), Cranbourne could not capitalise, converting less than 30 per cent from the field.
“That was the difference in the end, they hit their shots and we didn’t,” coach Corey Smith said.
“We either drew with or beat Melton in every category except for shooting accuracy but we have Justin McMillan back from holiday for next week (against Keilor and Coburg) and he is good at outside shooting.
“Keilor hasn’t won a game either, so hopefully we can get off to a good start and put them under pressure instead of ourselves.”