March 22: St Laurence Geelong Supercats 115 (N. Herbert 30, J. Medved 25, B. Cox 22) defeated Albury/Wodonga Bandits 102 (A. Rice 31, R. Kersten 25, G. Illangakoon 16) at the Geelong Arena.

The St Laurence Geelong Supercats bounced back onto the winners list with a solid win over the Albury/Wodonga Bandits at the Arena on Saturday night.

Import Shawn Myers was finally able to take his place in the Supercats side after arriving from the UK earlier in the week. Myers and Geelong’s other import Brad Bridgewater both started the game on the bench leaving it up to the Australian contingent to start the game.

Jamie Medved’s three consecutive three pointers in the first period kept Geelong in touch as the Bandits NBL trio of Ryan Kersten, Andrew Rice and Gavin Inglakoon did most of the scoring for the visitors to give them a three point lead at the first break.

Another three pointer for Medved in the second quarter made him the leading scorer in the game to that time on 13. Albury had a surprise for Geelong on the night as retired veteran Allen Mc Cowan suited up for the visitors and took to the court in the second quarter. With no more than a handful of points in the game, Geelong held a narrow 2 point lead at the main break as Head Coach, Mark Leader called upon a greater defensive effort from his men.

The Supercats responded early in the third as Nathan Herbert and Braith Cox began to find their form, however it seemed Rice could not miss as he continued the scoring for the visitors.

The Bandits led 84 to 79 at the last break, however the deficit was quickly wiped off as Geelong opened the last quarter with consecutive three pointers from Medved and Herbert. Herbert went on to score four three pointers in the last and, combined with Cox, helped Geelong blow the score out to a match winning lead. Geelong added 36 points in the last quarter to win the game comfortably 115 to 102.

Herbert’s 16 last quarter points made him the top scorer for Geelong with 30, while Medved finished with 25 including 7 three pointers. Cox continued his consistent form with 22 points to earn game MVP honours. Rice led all scorers with 31 for the visitors while Kersten had 25.