IT was a weekend of mixed fortunes for the Altona Gators in Big V basketball at the weekend, with only one win from three games.
The men’s team had a 66-60 win against Southern Peninsula on the road on Saturday night, followed by a 78-75 home loss to the Geelong Supercats on Sunday. The women were hammered 96-36 by the Supercats.
The men are 11th on the Big V ladder, one win behind the Supercats, in seventh. But it could have been so different.
Tied at 75-all with 20 seconds on the clock, the Supercats got the ball to Dane Bow, who hit what proved to be a match-winning three-pointer. The Gators were left with nine seconds to equalise but were unable to get a clear shot.
Joey Mausar led the way against the Supercats with 23 points, while John Wilkinson (20 points, 10 rebounds) and Shaun Phelan (14 points, 10 rebounds) both had double-doubles. Bow played 27 minutes for his 17 points while Ben McCawley had 20 points and an astonishing 19 rebounds.
The women, without injured key players Ashleigh Richardson (broken hand) and Katrina Vogelezang (strained wrist) were no match for premiership favourites Supercats. Trailing by 27 points at half-time, the Gators won the third 13-11 but were destroyed 36-5 in the final quarter.
Gators coach Randy Shanklin summed up the weekend. “We had an important win on the road,” he said of the men’s team. “Against the Supercats we played well but they are a grand final-type team and it was a clutch shot by Bow at the end.”
As for the women’s team, “we were outmanned and outsized against a team that looks like they will be the grand final winners”.
