ALL’S well that ends well, but a hint of ‘here we go again’ crept into the Altona Gators’ minds in the Victorian Basketball League Big V men’s division1 on Sunday.
The Gators handed new coach Kyle Slack his much-anticipated first victory and halted a two-game losing streak to the start of the season with a 69-54 win over Geelong Cats at the Altona Sports Centre.
The explosion of joy at the final buzzer replaced apprehension that existed on the Gators’ bench in the first quarter when the visiting Cats silenced the home crowd with nine unanswered points to start the game.
“They definitely jumped us,” Slack said. “We didn’t score for the first four minutes. To turn it around from there was big.”
The Gators sprung to life after that mini-run from the Cats.
They seized control of the game, outscoring the Cats 55-22 in the two-and-a-half quarters leading up to the end of the third to hold a 24-point advantage that rendered the fourth period junk time.
The Gators turned it around on the back of their in-your-face defence, which created turnovers and led to easy buckets on the offensive end.
“Good defence brings out our offence,” Slack said.
“The guys really created a lot of pressure and we got some momentum from our stops.”
Dean Rosenzweig was the spark plug for the Gators. His seven minutes on the court were as good as any on the day, even if he only had three boards to show for it.
The Gators visit Melbourne University (1-2) on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, the Altona Gators made it two from two in Big V women’s division1 after a 73-50 win over Geelong Cats at home.
– Lance Jenkinson
