August 21: SEABL South Conference Grand Final, St Laurence Geelong Supercats 99 (N. Herbert 23, J. Bullock 16, I. Muhammad 16, J. Medved 12) defeated Hobart Chargers 87 (A. Stewart 25, B. Polk 25, M. Banovic 15) at The Arena.
The St Laurence Geelong Supercats are the 2010 Crazy John’s South East Australian Basketball League South Conference Champions after defeating the Hobart Chargers by 12 points at the Arena on Saturday night.
From the jump-ball, which was won by Geelong evergreen veteran Sebastian Loader, Nathan Herbert set the tone for the night with a trademark three pointer after just 13 seconds. With Hobart struggling early, only veteran playing coach Anthony Stewart showed early resistance with a three pointer as the Supercats added another 8 points to open a handy lead. Isma’il Muhammad, Braith Cox and J’Nathan Bullock for Geelong helped extend the lead out to 13 points before settling to a 10 point lead at the first break 27 to 17. Domenic Friend substituted in for Bullock late in the term and he acquitted himself well with the Supercats losing no intensity.
Nick Owusu’s three pointer followed by another 2 points early in the second quarter combined with the introduction into the game of Jamie Medved, whose three moments later helped extend the lead out to 20 points, saw the game start to look like a boil over for the home side. However, Hobart’s Brandon Polk and Mark Banovic would reel the lead back to 13 as the Supercats took the foot off the pedal for a few minutes. Herbert and Cox would break the game apart again scoring successive threes and Medved’s 3 approaching half time saw the Supercats ahead by 21 (59 to 38) at the main break.
The expected fight back from the Chargers came in the third quarter. Geelong extended their half time lead to 25 before Hobart went on an 18 to 4 run, led by young point guard Tiri Masunda to bring the margin back to 11. The Supercats rallied late in the term to take a thirteen point lead 74 to 61 into the last quarter.
Herbert and Stewart traded three pointers through the last quarter as Muhammad, Bullock, Cox and Medved kept the scoreboard ticking over. Banovic responded with a couple of threes for the visitors to keep it interesting. Tempers got heated with a bit of pushing and shoving towards the end of the game. When Braith Cox fouled Polk with 90 seconds to play, Polk landed just 1 of the four free throws that resulted and Hobart’s last chance had passed by. The Chargers went negative for the last minute, fouling repeatedly to regain possession but with Jamie Medved accepting the inbounds passes, the tactic did not pay off as Medved made no mistake with the free throws. With 29 seconds to play and the Supercats up by 16, Head Coach Jamie O’Loughlin cleared the bench and let the remaining players on the roster have a run. The Supercats ran out the winners 99 to 87.
The win is the Supercat’s fifth SEABL conference Championship since rejoining the league in 1997 and their fourth in six years. Herbert was judged to be the game MVP with 23 points while Muhammad had 16 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists and Bullock had 16 points and 7 rebounds. Medved had 12 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal to be named best defensive player and Friend came off the bench to be best impact player with 6 points, 10 rebounds 2 assists and 3 blocks in a very encouraging sign for the club’s future. Stewart and Polk had 25 each for the runners up.
The Supercats will now go on to play East Conference Champions Bendigo for the overall SEABL Champions crown at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC) next Saturday night.
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