By JARROD POTTER
BIG V – ROUND 14
CASEY Cavaliers had to dig deep to find a way out of trouble against Southern Peninsula.
It was an up and down match as Casey squandered a 13-point lead before Southern Peninsula similarly threw away an eight-point buffer late in the clash.
Clamping down defensively was the bigger problem for Casey, with the Sharks’ multi-faceted offence proving difficult to contain.
Casey dropped the ball (some would say figuratively, others literally) in the third term as it only hit a woeful 3/19 from the field.
Southern Pen stole the advantage back and pushed out to an eight-point lead – requiring a desperate chase-down in the final term.
It would come together when it mattered most – hitting six points in the final minute and a half to force the match to overtime.
Overtime belonged to Casey – knocking down more than enough to see off the Sharks’ attack in a 81-74 triumph.
Brent Hobba (32 points, 13 rebounds) delivered another of his finest matches and Ben Louis (14 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists) flew across the court to nearly take a triple-double.
“We’ve done that a couple of times this year – that’s the really pleasing aspect, they’re obviously a very talented group, but it’s the gut fight in them when we’re facing adversity,” Baird said.
“It sounds obnoxious but I knew when we got it to overtime – you could see it in probably their last three minutes to get it back to even – that wasn’t going to stop.
“I felt really confident in overtime that we’d get it done and it was all the defensive end.”
Defending the Sharks’ guard tandem Max Allin and Declan Soukop was key to the win and Baird puts it down to a group effort to throw a blanket over their output.
“Those two guys have scored in the 20s and 30s their last three games, which they’ve won two of … so we knew that if Allin gets away from you, they still win, so as much as we were focused on Soukop, we really clamped down on Allin,” Baird said.
“Everyone played a role on that – Matty, Benny, Jimmy even Hobbs had a go at him – that’s the great thing about this group – there’s so much experience on the floor that they’re able to make changes without me telling them.”
The Cavaliers have cemented top spot in Watson Conference with a three-game lead over Camberwell and a win in its next four matches guarantees top billing for this year’s BIG V Division 1 finals.
Casey begins its final month of home-and-away basketball against Latrobe City in Tralragon on Saturday night before returning home to face Sunbury on Sunday afternoon.
The Casey women couldn’t get the job done against Blackburn – downed 59-65 – despite a gutsy third-term fight back. Missing captain Amy Mcfarlane on Saturday night, guarding responsibilities fell to the younger brigade as Cristin Daly, Naomi Roussety and Brigette Jacobs upped their minutes.
Bec Magdich (17 points) knocked in her biggest return for the Cavaliers while centre Tarryn Wilkin was just as mighty as she rattled off a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double.
The Cavaliers’ ladies host Keysborough in yet another heated and infamous Big V rivalry starting at 8pm on Saturday.
Casey’s youth men are flying. There’s no other way to put a 12-game winning streak on the back of an 87-46 pumping of Warrnambool. Alistair Parker (14 points, five rebounds) and Sam Pike (12 points, 10 rebounds) had exceptional returns from limited minutes as the coach rotated through the entire roster. Casey youth men face Maccabi on Saturday.
All Casey matches on Sunday are part of the Beyond The Ball event, helping raise money for beyondblue.
