April 25: Hobart Chargers 101 (M. Banovic 27, A. Stewart 23, C. Long 17) defeated St Laurence Geelong Supercats 97 (C. Lee 20, I. Muhammad 18, J. Medved 18) at the Arena.

April 26: Geelong Supercats 113 (J. Reardon 22, I. Muhammad 20, Lee 18) defeated Nunawading Spectres 85 (B. Bridgewater 17, N. Kennedy 16, M. Whitehead 16) at Nunawading Basketball Stadium.

In a weekend of mixed results, the St Laurence Geelong Supercats have won one game and lost the other to maintain a 50% win-loss ratio. On Saturday at the Arena Geelong were narrowly defeated in one of the most enthralling games at the Arena for many years. While on Sunday, Geelong travelled up to Nunawading and inflicted a 28 point thrashing on the Spectres who remain winless this season.

On Saturday night, Geelong entered the game undermanned with Nathan Herbert still absent on leave, Daniel George injured and Nick Owusu unavailable. Fittingly it was 150 gamer Jason Reardon who opened the scoring with a trademark 3 pointer as Geelong raced away to a 14 to 4 lead before Hobart playing coach Anthony Stewart called a time out. Clifton Lee joined Reardon in the scoring spree and Isma’il Muhammad chimed in with a reverse jam to help Geelong to a 36 to 22 point first quarter lead.

Veteran centre Nick Van Der Klooster wound back the clock in the second, shooting four points and blocking a number of opposition shots. Geelong’s young guns Kris Van Parraren and Chris Dunlop were not to be out done, stepping up when called on by coach Mark Leader to offer some valuable support and scoring options.

With six minutes and twenty seven seconds to play in the term and Geelong leading by 11 points, the Supercats’ lights went out, literally, as the scoreboard power failed. The brief interval while it was restarted was enough to rest all of the momentum back towards the visitors and Mark Banovic did not step backwards landing 3 three pointers to bring the game back to level pegging 58 each at the half.

Hobart continued to move away from the Supercats in the third, taking their lead out to 7 points before Geelong rallied to reel them back in. Jamie Medved’s 3 pointer with 5:15 to play put Geelong briefly back in the lead but Hobart again took the ascendancy through import Chuck Long’s threes to build a lead of 71 to 82 at the last break.

Geelong chipped away at the Hobart lead with Medved leading the scoring charge with some heroic shooting. With just over three minutes to play, Geelong was just a point behind, however they could not bridge the gap. Hobart led by 2 when Stewart turned the ball over with 11 seconds left only to have Geelong turn the ball back over at the 6 second mark. The Chargers won their second game in 8 days against Geelong, this time by four points 101 to 97.

Lee had another good game with 20 points, while Muhammad and Jamie Medved had 18 each. Banovic was the best for the visitors with 27.

It was a different story on Sunday afternoon when Geelong dominated from the first tip off. Former Supercats centre Brad Bridgewater scored the first basket for the Spectres before Geelong went on a 10-0 run to open up a comfortable lead. Van Der Klooster was again on song with 8 first quarter points in his 150th game for the club. Jamie Medved again chimed in with 2 three pointers on the way to a 28 to 18 first quarter lead.

Lee and Muhammad again did the job for Geelong at both ends of the court as Geelong moved ahead by 15 at the half. Nunawading put on a spirited effort at the start of the third and got the score back within six points before the Supercats put it in top gear to establish a 62 to 85 lead at the last break. Isma’il Muhammad’s dunk with a minute to play in the third was the match highlight as the athletic American ended up horizontal next to the ring as he stretched into the sky.

With the game safely under control, head coach Mark Leader afforded himself the luxury of resting the starting five with six minutes to play. With the starters rotating into the game Muhammad had another of his party tricks to go with a reverse jam just before full time. The Supercats ran out comfortable winners 113 to 85.

At Nunawading Reardon was the top scorer with 22, while Muhammad had another good game with 20 and Lee 18. Bridgewater was Nunawading’s best with 17.