Brave Warriors outclassed

FIGHTING for consecutive victories for the first time in three seasons, the Maccabi Warriors have gone down swinging to a hot-shooting Western Port Steelers squad 65 to 49.

Poor execution and erratic shooting plagued the Warriors through important periods of the match, and in spite of maintaining impressive intensity and patience on offence, Maccabi was rendered helpless by an endless barrage of outside shots by a sizzling Western Port team.

There were no significant statistical standouts, as Maccabi once again produced an even spread of scorers.

The Warriors started positively, getting out to an early lead guided by repeated fast-break opportunities duly converted by Josh Burns (eight points, eight rebounds) and strong play at point guard by Adam Klas.

Western Port began to capitalise on its obvious height advantage, relying on a hefty inside presence, well balanced by ever-lurking outside threats.

An 8-0 Steelers run to open the second quarter forced coach Mike Slusher to call time-out and implore his team for better decision making and to apply more pressure to Western Port’s nippy guards.

Despite responding with high-intensity pressure defence, the Warriors could not prevent the Steelers’ scoring burst, the visitors silencing the capacity crowd while sinking bucket after bucket and blowing the lead out to 32-16 at half-time.

Both teams traded blows in the third quarter, but the scrappy contest meant that neither side could build any sort of momentum and gain ascendancy.

Jason Conway (13 points) started to find his range, capping a scoring spree with a three-point play that brought the deficit back to single digits.

But it seemed Western Port had all the answers, calmly countering with another deep three in the dying seconds of the third, once-again extending the margin and posing a difficult challenge for a defiant Maccabi.

Strong post play by Eric Witschel (nine points, five rebounds) to open the final stanza gave a glimmer of hope to the Warriors, who simply refused to give up.

Maccabi was simply outshot down the stretch, as every attempt at a comeback was met by Western Port’s scorching shooting percentage, which was in full display towards the end, resulting in a lopsided score line that belied the closeness of the match.

ADAM BLAU