May 23: Frankston Blues 128 (A. Harms 34, R. Kampman 33, D. Gruber 20) defeated Geelong Supercats 115 (N. Herbert 33, J. Reardon 21, I. Muhammad 19) at the Frankston Basketball Centre.

The St. Laurence Geelong Supercats learned first hand what it is going to take to be on top in the SEABL in 2009, when they faced the undefeated ladder leaders Frankston on their home court on Saturday night. Geelong gave a good account of themselves before falling short by 13 points.

Frankston star point guard Mitch Chapman was missing from their line up due to injury leaving the home side with only Andrew Harms at the point guard position.

Geelong kept pace with the Blues for the first term as both sides scored freely. Geelong held a one point lead at quarter time and matched basket for basket with Frankston until the scores were locked at 50 points each. From then, however, it all went bad for the Supercats with Frankston going on a thirteen to nil run to open up a big margin and rattle the visitors. Geelong regained their composure and stayed with Frankston until half time when Frankston held the lead 68 to 57.

Frankston sharp shooters Harms and Rob Kampman were landing three pointers from way outside the arc in the third, helping the Blues extend their lead to as many as 22 before Blues import centre David Gruber slipped on a wet patch on the floor and appeared to injure either a groin or hamstring in his left leg. Bravely Gruber briefly retuned to the court before signalling to his coach to sub him out and he took no further part in the match.

At about the same time, Geelong switched up the defensive pressure applying a full court press for the second half of the third quarter and the entire last quarter. The tactic had the desired effect as the added pressure caused Frankston to turn the ball over on several occasions and Geelong began to chip away at the lead.

Geelong put on a solid display of defence in the last quarter to go with some terrific shooting. Nathan Herbert and Jason Reardon seized upon their opportunities with Herbert landing seven 3-pointers for the night and Reardon 3 to have Geelong back briefly to a single digit deficit. The damage had been done however and the Supercats would live to rue the earlier 13-nil run as they failed by that exact margin 128 to 115 in a high scoring encounter.

Herbert was Geelong’s best with 33 points while Reardon had a solid 21and Ismail Muhammad had 19. Harms had 34 for the home side and Kampman 33.

Geelong returns to the Arena next Saturday to take on the Albury-Wodonga Bandits. Tip off is at 7:30 pm