By RUSSELL BENNETT
THE Casey Cavaliers men have got off to an ideal start to their journey as a Big V basketball Division 1 team, knocking off Melbourne Uni at ‘The Fortress’ in Cranbourne on Saturday night.
In a game that ebbed and flowed from start to finish, Stewart Baird’s men bounced back from a horror shooting performance in the second quarter to record a seven point win, 71-64.
And the coach admitted that the result was a relief telling the News: “I didn’t realise it leading up to it but I must’ve been putting myself under a bit of pressure.
“I felt quite a bit of relief afterwards and my neck and shoulders were locked tight as if I’d been lifting weights all day. It was crazy!”
Casey’s imposing front-court trio of Matt Witherden (15 points, 10 rebounds), Brent Hobba (17 points, 10 rebounds) and Lester Strong (18 points, 10 rebounds) was instrumental in the win and each finished with big double-doubles.
“It was great to get the new group out on the floor and get a real win in real conditions, and get off to the best possible start,” Baird said.
“Matty (Witherden) certainly had a year last year where he and Matt Pebole were the two go-to guys, so there was some curiosity as to how the situation would play out offensively but each of those three finished with a double-double and I think that’s probably the perfect scenario.
“If they can consistently get double-doubles then we’re going to win a lot more games than we lose, that’s for sure.”
Moving forward, the Cavaliers will continue to work on their spacing on the floor, which Baird said “still needs a bit of work”, and their transition from defence to offence.
“We just didn’t push it hard enough last weekend,” Baird said.
“It surprised me because it’s something that we’ve done a lot of work on over the summer.
“I just said to the guys to watch the way the Youth League boys play – they rocket up and down the floor and we’ve got to get more in that mindset of pushing the ball and trying to take advantage of everything we can.”
Baird was impressed with the Cavaliers’ guard play on Saturday night with Steve Michalski and James Deneefe running the point.
But Baird emphasised the importance of his men continuing to look for Bevan Camilleri on the perimeter.
“We need to make sure we find him when he’s open, because he didn’t see enough of it on Saturday night.”
Next up for the Cavaliers is a tough early-season back-to-back this weekend – at home against Geelong on Saturday night, and away to Chelsea on Sunday afternoon.
“Geelong will be interesting, they got 94 points up on Saturday night against Sunbury, who scored 90, so it was a bit of a shootout,” Baird said.
“I’m hoping we can make them uncomfortable and lock them down and, hopefully, that’ll go a long way to seeing a win.
“Chelsea did a great job against last year’s premiers and got a win on the road, so that definitely won’t be an easy game either.
“It’s a tough weekend and at the end of the day if we can be 3-0 on Sunday night then we’ll have done a hell of a job. If we split it, well that’s probably pretty satisfying as well. But we’re aiming to win them both.”
The opening weekend of the Big V season was also a winning one for the Cavaliers’ Division 2 women’s side, which demolished newcomers Pakenham 96-24.
The Pakenham side was outclassed from pillar to post in its inaugural Big V game, while Casey – a likely championship contender – flexed its muscles.
In a particularly even team performance, Jade Foot, Rebecca Magdich and Samantha Johnson led the way with 15 points apiece.
One of the highlights of the night was a clash of sisters, with Magdich taking on her big sister Mel.
