May 2: Geelong Supercats 100 (C. Lee 19, I. Muhammad 18, B. Cox 13) defeated Kilsyth Cobras 96 (J. Werner 19, C. Cameron 16, M. Shanahan 14) at Kilsyth and Mountain District Basketball Stadium.

May 3: Geelong Supercats 92 (N. Herbert 20, I. Muhammad 18, C. Lee 14) defeated Sandringham Sabres 87 (T. Smith 21, N. Mottram 21, D. Dillon 18) at the Arena.

The Supercats began their quest to string consecutive wins together with a close match against the Kilsyth Cobras at Kilsyth on Saturday night where six Supercats players shot in double figures. They followed this up on Sunday evening with a hard fought win over the Sandringham Sabres back home at the Arena. The wins signal Geelong are back to their best with a full squad available and the new imports now fitting well into their roles.

At Kilsyth on Saturday, the Supercats welcomed back shooting guard Nathan Herbert and centre Daniel George to the line up to be at full strength for the first time in several weeks. In the opening term, Nick Owusu’s three pointer opened the scoring at set the tone for the match. The Supercats continued to pile on the points as Geelong’s superior depth was finally coming to fruition. Jamie Medved’s three put Geelong up by 12 just before the end of the quarter but a late rally reduced Geelong’s lead to 8 at quarter time.

The Cobras came back in the second through big men Joe Werner and Chris Cameron and reduced Geelong’s lead to 4 points before Coach Mark Leader called a time out to re-focus his men. Isma’il Muhammad certainly heard the call racking up Geelong’s last nine points for the quarter to give the Supercats a nine point lead 57 to 48 at the half.

Braith Cox and Clifton Lee helped Geelong continue to build their lead out to 17 points in the first six minutes of the third quarter before Kilsyth rallied and came back strongly. Tight Kilsyth defence matched by poor Geelong shooting saw the Supercats not score for a full six minutes as the home side went on a 17 to nil run to get scores level with a minute to play in the quarter. Kilsyth briefly hit the front for the first and only time in the match before Nathan Herbert’s 3 pointer with 10 seconds to go had Geelong back in front by two at the last break.

In the tight last quarter both sides ramped up their defence once again as there was no more than a handful of points in it for most of the term. Geelong held on for a gritty 4 point win in perhaps the best team performance of the season so far.

Lee top scored for Geelong with 19 while Muhammad had 18 and Cox 13. Three other Supercats Herbert, George and Reardon had 12 each and Medved had 9. Werner was the best for the Cobras matching Lee’s 19.

The Supercats returned to the Arena on Sunday for a special twilight fixture against league newcomers Sandringham. Again a three pointer opened proceedings for Geelong, this time it was at the hands of Muhammad. In a tight fist quarter both sides felt each other’s measure as there was no more than a few points in it for most of the term. Sharp shooting guard Daniel Dillon made his mark for the Sabres in the last minute blasting two threes to take the visitors to a seven point lead at quarter time.

The Nathan Herbert show started the second quarter as the Geelong guard fired the first 10 points to square the scores at 30 each. Once again it was back to basket for basket for the remainder of the half as Geelong took just a one point lead at half time.

Isma’il Muhammad was the agent to break the deadlock with a trademark reverse jam in traffic followed up the next time down the court with a three pointer to open up a double figure lead for the Supercats. Lee joined in to move the Geelong lead out to a game high 15 points before a Sandringham rally bought the score back to a 10 point margin at the last break.

Import Tron Smith and centre Neil Mottram staged a rally for Sandringham to begin the last quarter and the 13 to 2 run saw the visitors get right back in the match. This set up a close contest in the last for a classic finish to the game. Braith Cox led his team from the front as Geelong moved to a match winning lead with minutes to go forcing the visitors to foul. Geelong comfortably finished the match as five point winners.

Nathan Herbert was the Supercats’ best with 20 while Muhammad staked his claim for player of the week with another 18 and Lee finished a good weekend with 14. Mottram and Smith had 21 each for Sandringham.

Geelong play their fourth double header in as many weeks next weekend starting off at home on Friday against North West Tasmania before travelling up to meet league prodigal sons Dandenong on Saturday.