For every weekend in May the Tigers senior basketball teams will be taking on local NBL1 rivals at MSAC.
Last Saturday night, hosting the Southern (previously Sandringham) Sabres, the Tigers women got off to a slow start finding it hard to make their shots whereas the Sabres where finding the target. This resulted in a 12 point deficit at half time (29-41), the Tigers needed to somehow curb the opposition scoring and then start hitting some shots. The 3rd quarter saw no headway made with both teams scoring 16 points however the Tigers managed to rally in the fourth to go down by 6 points (60-66) at the final siren. Katie Budgen top scored for the Tigers with 16 points and support came from Monique Conti with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
The men’s game was a tightly fought affair with may lead changes throughout the game. Sabres, and NBL Melbourne United’s star, David Barlow kept them in the game with sharp shooting. The Tigers were down by 5 at the final break and then Mike Wells (20 pts, 4ast) made 2 timely 3 to wrest back the lead. Sabres and Tigers were going point for point until in the last possession for the Tigers saw Mickey Luxford (21pts, 5ast) make a long 3 from just over the centre line to give a 2 point lead only to have McDaniel from Sabres draw the game on the final buzzer – enter OVERTIME!
The Tigers took the momentum and dominated the over-time period coming out winners by 12 points (113-101). Tiger and South Melbourne local, Dane Pineau dominated the boards with 22 rebounds to go with his 21 points.
May Madness continues next weekend with games on both Saturday and Sunday, as follows:
Sat May 11 v Diamond Valley (W 4pm, M 6pm)
Sun May 12 v Ringwood (W 1pm, M 3pm) Come on down to MSAC for some exciting elite level basketball involving NBL and WNBL players.