Tara Murray
Altona Gators let slip the opportunity to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three semi finals series against the Pakenham Warriors in the Big V men’s division 2.
The Gators hosted game one of the series on Saturday night and got off to the perfect start and were sitting comfortable at half time, leading by nine points.
The Warriors had other ideas and dominated the majority of the second half to come away with an 82-72 win.
Gators playing coach Jordan Lino said it was a frustrating result to say the least.
“We had it,” he said. “We’re disappointed in the second half as we kind of last it instead of losing to a team that was better on the night.”
Lino said it was an amazing first half with everything going to script and the players sticking to the scout.
He said they knew that the Warriors were going to come at them in the second half, but they just didn’t respond.
“The second half we started drifting away from what we had been doing,” he said. “I don’t know if it was complacency.
“Half way through the third quarter we made a push to try to spur ourselves on. It was more physical which we knew was coming.
“We had a good period at the end of the third and we wanted to play with that momentum. We had to force it late… and a few contested shots and the ball didn’t fall.
“They put more points on the board at the same time and were able to build the lead.
Samson Rocker top scored with 15 points for the Gators, while Zachary Polglaze, Jovan Bojanic and Thomas Georgiadis also scored double figures.
The Gators now head to Pakenham for game two on Saturday night and if needed, game three on Sunday.
Lino said they know it will be tough, but believe they can get the job done, especially if they play like they did in the first half.
“One of the boys said after the game that we now have a whole week to prepare for game two and adjust,” he said.
“We’ll watch the video again and see the differences that we can make. If we are able to get the win over there in game two, they have less than 24 bouts to adjust.
“It’s a bit of a trek, but I think that we can do it.”
In the other semi final series, Gippsland United beat the Wallan Panthers, 108-87, to take a 1-0 lead.
Meanwhile Gators youth league men’s division 1 player Jake Afoa was named in the Big V men’s youth league 1 team of the year.
Afoa was the leading scorer in the division, averaging 22.05 points per game and has also been named as a finalist for the defensive player of the year for that division.
Gators youth league 1 men’s coach Sedale Threatt was named as a finalist in coach of the year, while Gators youth league women’s coach Randy Shaklin is a finalist in the youth league women’s championship division.
