By JARROD POTTER
PROUD, passionate and pink.
Saturday night was about more than the points scored and victories savoured as the Casey Basketball Association community slipped into as much pink as possible for its Ballin’ for Breast Cancer night.
Auctions for donated items, signed jerseys and special one-on-one training sessions were up for grabs as the Cavaliers’ family dug deep to support the Beast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA).
The night had extra meaning for the players with a select few honoured with the Deb Spinks Memorial MVP award for the best player on the night – named after long-time Cavaliers’ supporter Deb Spinks who passed away from breast cancer in January.
The Casey Cavaliers donned the famous pink jerseys over the weekend in their BIG V triple header with the senior men and youth league men snaring victories while the women’s team were just pipped in a nail-biter.
The Cavs’ senior men were able to get the job done easily over Altona – snaring a 81-68 triumph on the back of some sublime early three-point shooting.
Hard-driving point guard James Deneefe (14 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals) had an all-round superstar performance to earn the last Deb Spinks MVP for the event, as he stepped back up to the one-spot with new recruit Ben Louis absent.
Also starring for the Cavaliers were big, bad Brent Hobba (22 points, 15 rebounds) and Lester Strong (13 points, 17 rebounds) as the duo terrorised the Gators’ offence.
Matt Witherden (5 points, 6 rebounds) made a good showing of his first match back from a leg injury while Bevan Camilleri (18 points) pushed through the key to register his best tally in 2015.
Casey senior men have skyrocketed to third in the Watson Conference standings – with a 6-4 record – and will face Camberwell on Sunday afternoon at Balwyn High School.
The Cavaliers women could not find their way back into the clash against Blackburn – despite a gallant fourth-quarter run cutting the margin to six.
Natalie Dowdy (17 points, 10 rebounds) was awarded the Spinks MVP from the women’s match for her superb efforts under the hoop while Tarryn Wilkin (16 points, 7 rebounds) also ensured the Cavaliers weren’t outmatched aerially.
Starting off proceedings were the Youth Men who snared a 78-64 win over Mornington as Aaron Bower was awarded the first Spinks MVP of the evening.
