Cavs throw it away

By Justin Robertson
AN ERRATIC Cranbourne threw its game away by three points on Saturday night at Darebin.
Coach Cory Smith said that after half-time the team seemed rattled.
“Not sure what happened, but we seemed to throw the ball away or out of bounce way too much,” Smith said. “When we didn’t do that, we’d turn the ball over.”
For the game, the Cavs coughed up the ball 34 times to Darebin’s 22 and trailed the steals count 20-8, which Smith said cost them the game.
“Up until half-time we were doing all the right things, but we let it slip a bit,” he said. “But they had 20 more shots than us and we still almost won.”
With a 41-34 lead at the main break, the Cavs certainly had the upper hand, but a 23-15 match-winning quarter by Darebin turned the game in its favour by the break, 57-56.
In a tight final quarter, the Cavs worked hard to gain control and with two minutes remaining on the clock, led by a one point. But a quick reply by Darebin saw it hold on to a slim victory. A last-second three-point attempt by the Cavs denied them a chance to win the game in overtime.
Jayden McMillin continued his run of good form with a team-high of 25 points and 14 rebounds. He scored 21 points by half-time but received close attention by Darebin in the second half and that’s when Jonathan Hawes stood up with a hard-working (13,13) performance.
Justin McMillin also played another solid game (14,8), and Matthew Marshall (4,7) spent a valuable 30 minutes on the court and chipped in with some slick ball movement.
Having lost their past four games now, the Cavs have slipped to seventh position on the ladder and will look to snap their streak against Maccabi.
“We are trying to look ahead at the moment and next week should be a good game,” Smith said. “Maccabi beat us last time, so we’ll be looking to have a win.”