IT was an awfully long and punishing Mildura Heat road trip for the Altona Gators in the Big V men’s division 1.
The Gators decided to travel on game day, leaving Queen Street at 7.15am and taking to the court at 8pm.
But the tourists produced a good brand of basketball, keeping the 300-strong crowd worried for two periods. But the long day caught up with the Gators in a tired second half.
It was about 10pm when they trudged off with a 97-76 loss.
“We did lose our focus in the second half,” Gators coach Randy Shanklin told the Weekly.
“Getting up at 7.15 is not something you would usually do on game day.
“I don’t know how Mildura do it every second week. It’s a great disadvantage.”
All that was good about the Gators came in the first half.
Scores were deadlocked at half-time.
Craig Martin was stretching the Heat with his athleticism, and he finished with 18 points and 15 rebounds.
Shaun Phelan (14 points and five rebounds) and Joey Mausar (14 points, four steals and three assists) were having a big impact.
“We did really well when the game was played man-to-man,” Shanklin said. “They reverted to a zone defence in the second half and I thought that was a huge mark of respect from them.”
The Gators seemed to be cooked by the time the second half swung by.
They began to turn the ball over and it led to easy baskets for Heat import Calvin Henry. Red-hot Henry was unstoppable in the open court, finishing with 42 points, including 16 of 19 from the field, two-of-two beyond the arc and a perfect eight-of-eight from the free throw line.
“Sometimes it doesn’t matter what you do, they score,” Shanklin said.
Once the Heat crowd got involved, the Gators were shot.
The locals were at their vocal best to give local hero Shannon Erskine a win in his 450th game.
“It’s a tough place to play,” Shanklin said.
The Gators (3-3) will test their mettle against the title-contending Whittlesea Pacers (5-1) on the road on Saturday night.
Men: Mildura Heat 97 Altona Gators 76
Women: Mildura Heat 64 Altona Gators 49