June 21: St Laurence Geelong Supercats 116 (N. Herbert 35, d. George 27, S. Myers 25) defeated North West Tasmania Thunder 109 (B. Armstrong 33, L. McGaffin 21, B. Nuckles 21) at the Burnie Sports stadium.

June 20: Hobart Chargers 115 (A. Stewart 36, C. Long 26, M. Nash 16) defeated St Laurence Geelong Supercats 106 (B. Cox 28, N. Herbert 22, S. Myers 20) at Aurora Stadium, Hobart.

The St Laurence Geelong Supercats have split their weekend road trip to Tasmania being narrowly defeated by the Hobart Chargers in Hobart on Friday night before bouncing back to record a win against SEABL East conference ladder leader’s, North West Tasmania on Saturday night.

On Friday, Hobart got out of the blocks early and had 8 points on the board before Geelong had scored. The Supercats recovered as Herbert and Cox began to find their range and tied up the scores before Geelong moved ahead at quarter time by five points.

Hobart counter attacked in the second quarter with former NBL star Anthony Stewart and import Charleston Long doing most of the scoring. The Chargers wiped off the deficit within two minutes and then established a lead of as many as 13 points before the Supercats recovered through Shawn Myers to be down by just three points at the half.

In the third quarter, it was more of the same with Hobart taking their lead out to 14, the biggest of the match before Geelong again surged back, helped by Braith Cox’s scoring, to be down by seven at the final break. The Supercats maintained that margin until four and a half minutes to play, when a Technical Foul committed by former Charger, and now Supercat, Daniel George allowed Hobart a five point play including 2 free throws made and a three pointer from the subsequent possession. Stewart scored all five of those points. From this point, the home side were never headed and although Geelong got back within 4 points it was too little, too late as Hobart inflicted Geelong’s first loss in ten games.

Cox top scored for Geelong with 28, while Herbert had 22 and Myers 20. Stewart led all scorers with 36 for Hobart.

On Saturday, the Supercats travelled up to Burnie on the Tasmanian north coast to take on the SEABL East Conference ladder leader, North West Tasmania Thunder.  Geelong got the first points on the board but the Thunder soon struck back. Nathan Herbert was firing for Geelong but he was matched by Ben Armstrong for the home side. The two carried the score to 35 to 31 in North West’s favour by quarter time.

In a close fought second quarter, Daniel George began to make his presence felt in the centre and scored freely. The Supercats guards were also finding Shawn Myers inside. Thunder import Brad Nuckles helped them stay in the match. By half time, North West had increased their lead to 5 points.

A Nathan Herbert barrage of scoring in the third helped Geelong wipe of the deficit and take the lead by four points at the last break. With single figure margins between the teams all night, this turned into a match winning lead. The Supercats played out the contest and won the match 116 to 109.

Herbert had a night out with a 35 point haul to go with his 12 rebounds. Daniel George was back to his best with 27 points, while Myers finished off a good weekend with 25 points and 19 rebounds.

The Supercats return to the Arena next Friday night to take on the young guns from the Australian Institute of Sport.