By JARROD POTTER
ALL good things eventually come to an end.
Rome fell, Cadbury discontinued the peppermint mousse cup, and to the chagrin of south east basketball fans… Casey finally lost.
The streak ended at lucky 14 as the Supercats prowled past the Cavaliers 78-67.
Despite the gallant work of Bevan Camilleri (16 points) and talls Dean Johnson (8 points, 9 rebounds), Brent Hobba (9 points, 6 rebounds) and Ash “Where’s the Headband” Szalek (8 points, s7 rebounds), Casey could not fire past Geelong’s down the stretch.
But one loss won’t derail the Cavaliers – which still remain top of the BIG V Division-1 Watson Conference one game off taking the overall first seed across both conferences when it faces Camberwell on Saturday night.
Casey women have done everything in their power to make the finals after a gutsy 56-50 win over Melbourne University giving the Cavaliers the slimmest of chances to advance.
Needing a win to maintain any hope of a finals’ berth, Casey powered past the scholars with sublime efforts coming via tall tandem Natalie Dowdy (18 points, 17 rebounds) and Tarryn Wilkin (13 points, 11 rebounds) both snaring impressive double doubles.
Trailing 39-45 at the final break, Casey clipped the Black Angels’ wings – holding the visitors to a scant five points while knocking down 17 of their own. The Cavaliers were able to sweep past the bruised and broken students to register its ninth win of the season and maintain some hope of making the post-season.
Casey will have to barrack extra hard for either North East or cross-town rivals Keysborough to knock over Melbourne University or Coburg respectively to sneak into the finals. If either side is defeated, Casey will advance on previous record.
Casey’s youth men have no such troubles after advancing comfortably with a 17-3 record completed on Saturday night.
The Cavaliers knocked over Corio Bay 84-72 with a good roster-wide effort highlighted by Josh Lemi (15 points) and Samuel Pike (5 points, 11 rebounds) under the hoop.
The Cavaliers’ first final will be a qualifying showdown against Warrandyte away on Saturday night from 7pm.
