By JARROD POTTER
BIG V – ROUND 1
CONTRASTING fortunes faced Casey in its Big V Division 1 season-opening round as it got out of the double-header with a win and a loss.
Forced to face both of Division 1’s grand finalists Melton and Latrobe City to start 2016 was a massive mountain for the Cavaliers to climb, but the side’s Saturday night’s trip to Gippsland was extremely lucrative as they brushed aside Latrobe City 90-64.
The Cavaliers turned off the Energy in the second term, posting a resounding 29 points on the back of huge efforts from Brent Hobba (22 points), new recruit Mitch Chapman (20 points), Bevan Camilleri (15 points) and a double-double from Dean Johnson (11 points, 13 rebounds).
Hobba’s haul is even more impressive as he left the court in the second quarter with an ankle injury, as he reeled in his numbers off only 14 minutes.
But backing up without Hobba or Lester Strong (finger) on Sunday evening was a tough ask against Melton as Casey fell for a pittance in an 82-85 thriller.
It came down to the dying seconds as Melton managed to surge ahead, despite the hard yards put in by Ben Louis (24 points), Matt Witherden (21 points, 10 rebounds) and Johnson (15 points, eight rebounds).
“It was a particularly tough draw – to be given the two grand finalists from last season on opening weekend of all things – when we saw that we reset our goals to a degree,” Casey coach Stewart Baird said. “You want to win both, but if we did get away with a 1-1 weekend, then it wasn’t a bad start.
“Really solid win against Latrobe – weren’t great in the second quarter but got things going the way we wanted to in the second.”
Hobba (ankle injury) – despite that he was well on his way to some sort of game – but it was funny how we lost him through that quarter and it galvanised the rest of the guys to replace his loss and we played really well in the third.”
Melton – featuring NBL players Tim Coenraad (31 points, 13 rebounds) and Chris Patton (11 points, 13 rebounds) gave the Cavaliers all kinds of trouble in the key, but Ben Louis relished the tough task on Coenraad.
“Without Hobba and Lester, it was uncertain how it would play out as we were short two bigs and two significant players, but the guys stepped up,” Baird said. “Ben Louis was amazing – not only at the offensive end, but he took the job of playing on Tim Coenraad – we certainly didn’t stop him, but curtailed him.
“If he was to play the whole season with Melton he’ll have some 50 point games and Benny did a great job on holding him and definitely a few moments during the game, especially the fourth, where we let him down a bit.
“We’ll put that down to early season stuff – that was the lesson for us to learn.”
Baird believes Strong will return after the Easter break, but didn’t think they’d rush Hobba back into the blue and silver for round 2 when Casey hosts Melbourne Uni at home from 7.30pm on Saturday 2 April.
Under new coach Michael Davies, Casey women opened the accounts with a 61-51 away triumph over Altona as Ruchelle Mccracken (12 points, 11 rebounds) excelled in her first clash with the Cavaliers. Tarryn Wilkin (12 points, seven rebounds) and Amy Mcfarlane (eight points) led the charge in the 2016 debut for a new-look Cavaliers’ line-up.
Casey women travel to face Pakenham after the Easter break at Cardinia Life on 2 April.
Casey’s youth men rounded out the weekend with a 69-65 win over Chelsea on Saturday night before a hard-fought loss to Melton 54-63 in the curtain-raiser on Sunday afternoon.
The Cavs’ juniors face Warrnambool on Saturday 2 April at home from 5.30pm.
