May 22: St Laurence Geelong Supercats 96 (J. Bullock 23, N. Herbert 23, B.Cox 16) defeated Bendigo Braves 86 (I. McFarlin 24, L. Meyer 21, A. Tanner 11) at The Arena.

The St Laurence Geelong Supercats have defeated the Bendigo Braves in a thrilling contest at the Arena on Saturday night. The win snapped a six game winning streak for the Crazy John’s SEABL East Conference ladder leaders and keeps the Supercats in touch for a top two finish.

With country Victorian bragging rights on the line, no quarter was going to be given by either side. From the opening tip it was basket for basket. Braith Cox put the first points on the board for the Supercats and it went basket for basket until Braves’ import Ivan McFarlin succeeded in a three point play, after being fouled on the way to the basket, to put the visitors in front. The Supercats quickly regained the lead after McFarlin fouled Isma’il Muhammad and steadily built on their total. J’Nathan Bullock’s first of three 3 pointers put the home side up by nine points before Bendigo fought back to be five points down at the first break.

The remarkable second quarter was highlighted by Muhammad’s reverse dunk in plenty of traffic. In a quarter where the score didn’t vary by more than three points either way, Nathan Herbert continued his stellar season and had 18 points by half time as he and Bullock matched Bendigo’s McFarlin and Luke Meyer’s offensive output. Both teams scored 21 points for the term as the Supercats maintained the five point margin at the half.

Bendigo’s 8 points to nil run in the first minute and a half of the third term, thanks to McFarlin and Meyer, gave the visitors a three point lead and had Supercats head coach Jamie O’Loghlin calling a time out. It was fairly obvious to the 2000 strong crowd at the Arena that this was not what he’d drawn on the whiteboard at half time. With the ship steadied, Geelong again took the lead and began to build on it again. Jamie Medved’s three took the lead out to 7 before veteran Chris Novak brought the margin back to five points at the last change as both sides scored 22 points for the quarter.

The last quarter continued the form of the previous three with first the visitors and then Geelong gaining the ascendency. Meyer’s 3 pointer bought the margin back to 2 points and it went basket for basket until Bullock’s 3 increased the home side’s lead to 6. Braith Cox was having a real captain’s run and his three point play following Adam Tanner’s foul took the lead to double figures with three minutes to play to put the win beyond doubt. Herbert’s successful free throw’s a minute later gave Geelong the biggest advantage of the match of 14 points before they settled for a 10 point win 96 to 86.

Bullock returned to good form for the Supercats matching Herbert with 23 points and 10 rebounds each. Cox finished with 16 points, Muhammad had a quiet night by his standards but still finished with 13 points and 8 rebounds while Medved had 12 points. McFarlin led all scorers with 24 for the visitors.

The Supercats are at the Arena again next Saturday night to take on Dandenong at 7:30 pm before heading up the highway to play Kilsyth next Sunday afternoon.

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