May 9: St Laurence Geelong Supercats 128 (S. Myers 32, B. Bridgewater 22, N. Herbert 17) defeated Mount Gambier Pioneers 102 (D. Jeffree 27, J. Cochran 24, J. Sedlock 15) at the Geelong Arena.

UPDATE: Highlights now on  Geelong's own TV Channel 

A solid 26 point victory over the Mount Gambier Pioneers has increased the St Laurence Geelong Supercats’ unbeaten run at home at the Arena to 8 games this season.  The win places the Supercats two games clear of their nearest rivals, however sitting in second place on the SEABL South Conference ladder overall due to Frankston having played less games.

The Supercats unveiled a new local talent to join the already formidable squad in the form of guard Chris Dunlop. The Geelong born and bred youngster has just returned home after a stint in college in the United States. With Jamie Medved still sidelined for at least another three weeks recovering from a shoulder injury and Kris Van Parraren unavailable with the flu, Dunlop’s addition to the squad is timely.

The Supercats sprang out of the starting gate startling their opponents. Shawn Myers landed the first of his four three pointers for the evening and Braith Cox and Nathan Herbert led the scoring. Defensively, Herbert had the assignment on Pioneer’s star Dallas Jeffree and performed well often double teaming the shooter in the company of Cox or Jordan Hill to hold him to just four points in the quarter.  With Pioneers’ import Tristan Parham racking up 3 early fouls, he was forced to sit out most of the period as Geelong led at the first break 37 points to 18.

203cm Centre Glen Barlow attracted his fourth foul for Mt. Gambier early in the second quarter giving coach Ray DeWit some real problems matching Geelong’s triple towers of Brad Bridgewater, Daniel George and Myers. However, Bridgewater was to attract the referee’s attention in the second as well, earning his third and fourth fouls in quick succession and a seat next to coach Mark Leader on the bench. Myers and Herbert maintained the shooting pressure as Geelong increased their lead to 22 points at the half.

Barlow fouled out of the game in the third quarter and, with import combination Tristan Parham and James Cochran also in foul trouble, the shooting for the visitors was once again left up to Jeffree wha was still being well held by Herbert. Geelong outscored their opponents 35 to 21 for the quarter and established a match winning 99 to 64 lead at three quarter time.

With seven and a half minutes to play Herbert, who has been completing gruelling three hour individual sessions with the South Dragon’s NBL side all week, had earned a rest and the Geelong bench was given its chance to shine. Cochran seized upon the opportunity for the visitors and his cameo role in the last saw the Pioneers get to within 20 before Geelong again moved away. Dunlop hit the court in Supercats colours for the first time with three minutes to play and managed to get on the score sheet with a free throw. The Supercats ran out easy victors 128 to 102.
Myers had one of his best games of the season for Geelong finishing with 32 points, including four threes, 10 rebounds and 4 steals. He was assisted by Bridgewater with 20 while Herbert finished with 17 and George 14.

The Supercats will travel to Kilsyth next Saturday night before returning to the Arena on May 24th against Hobart.