By JARROD POTTER
FAMILIAR faces came back to haunt the Cavaliers in the Division 1 men’s 75-87 loss to Southern Peninsula.
The ghosts of Casey line-ups past returned to spook the Cavaliers and inflict a 12-point defeat against Stewart Baird’s charges.
With Matt Witherden unavailable, the Cavaliers shuffled their line-up and got out to a strong start – pushing towards a 10-point lead in the second term as Brent Hobba (18 points, nine rebounds, six assists) and James Deneefe (14 points) kept the scoreboard ticking around.
With former Cavaliers Jono Hawes (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Michael Troyahn (four points) – as well as former Youth Men’s coach Luke Sunderland now the Sharks head coach – the match had complete Cranbourne-flavour as everyone was well acquainted in the south-east showdown.
A 12-27 third term deficit left the Cavaliers scrambling after Sharks’ guard Max Allin (31 points, eight assists) found his range.
Steve Michalski (nine points) reeled in the margin back to six – knocking off back-to-back treys as well as an assist finding skipper Dean Johnson (12 points, six rebounds).
But from there the Sharks frenzied to find a few get-out-of-trouble baskets via Allin and Matt Pollard (13 points, five rebounds).
They would extend the margin back beyond 10, leaving the challenge too much for the Cavaliers to reel in.
After leaving the Cavaliers over the off-season, Hawes made the most of his first clash against the old side.
Hawes had the last laugh, hitting the final lay-up of the match to take the victory and bringing the bragging rights down to Rosebud for the time being in what is suiting up to be a hotly contested rivalry.
Casey has slipped to seventh in the Big V Division 1 Watson Conference and will need to bounce back against La Trobe City on Saturday night. The Cavaliers will host the Energy in an Anzac Day Clash from 8pm at Casey Indoor Leisure Centre.
Casey’s women smashed past North East 70-34 – with Bec Magdich (16 points, 11 rebounds) and Jess Szalek (13 points) posting big numbers.
Tim Parker’s brigade sits fourth on the Division 2 Women’s ladder and will face Mornington on Sunday afternoon from 1pm.
