Cavaliers fight on

By Ben Hope
THE Cranbourne Cavaliers remain positive about their inaugural Big V season despite disappointing losses to both Melton and Warrandyte last weekend.
Cavaliers coach Cory Smith said his players knew they were in for some tough competition against stronger, more experienced opposition.
“It was tough weekend, they were both good teams who I would think will end up in the top four,” he said.
Smith said his team had a strong start in its away game against the Melton Thoroughbreds on Saturday but couldn’t keep the intensity going into the second half.
“We were only down by 33 at half-time and lost only five points during the second half of the game,” Smith said. “Melton just got the jump on us. They ran their offence perfectly without missing many shots. They kept the pressure up and once the team is 10 or 15 points up they usually keep going.”
Justin McMillin again proved valuable for the Cavaliers, breaking through the Melton defence to top the visitors’ score with 13 points. Tim Morgan and Andrew Cotton also worked hard to clock up 11 points each.
“Cotton is one of our bigger guys and we put him out as much as we could this weekend to counter some of the bigger Melton players,” Smith said. “We gave him the assignment to keep some of the bigger guys off the rebounds.”
The Thoroughbreds moved into first position on the ladder after defeating the Cavaliers 100-62.
In their second away game for the weekend the inexperienced Cavaliers went down to Warrandyte 81-60 on Sunday afternoon.
“We were up by eight early in the game and finished the quarter only two points down,” Smith said.
“It wasn’t until the last half that Warrandyte picked up their defence and we dropped our intensity.”
Despite the losses Smith remains positive about the season and hopes the coming matches against the ladder’s bottom teams will yield better results.
“We always said there is still a chance to get in the top four and we are improving each week,” he said. “It’s still a learning experience for us, we are a young team and as coaches we are learning as well.”
Next weekend the Cavaliers will meet Mildura in a home game and Smith is hoping the home crowd will help his side start out strong.