With Canberra high on confidence from their thrilling four point win against Knox in triple overtime last week, the game was never going to be easy, but the road trip seemed to be exactly what the doctor ordered for our Swinburne Cobras. 

Inaccuracy and poor first quarters have hurt Kilsyth all season, however Saturday night’s win saw the Swinburne Cobras put to bed both issues, outscoring the Gunners 18-14 at 50% accuracy. Instead of playing hunter for the rest of the match Kilsyth enjoyed being the hunted, managing to outscore Canberra in all but the last quarter.

Kilsyth’s ability to shoot the three in the second and third quarters proved to be the difference between the two sides, scoring two in the second and three in the third to Canberra’s none, in fact Canberra could only manage one 3 pointer for the entire match compared to Kilsyth’s six.

The last quarter was more of a formality with Canberra still unable to penetrate the Swinburne Cobras defence, Tim Lang (20pts, 10rbds) brushed off his jet-lag with a double double to be the Swinburne Cobras best; he was well supported by Zach Malvik (14pts, 5rbds) and Quincy Henderson (13pts, 5rbds).

Head Coach Grant Wallace was pleased with his team’s strong performance “It was a great team effort by all involved, we had a solid week on the training track with it being the first time we had all been together this year”.

“Our defence was very good holding Canberra to just 50 points for the game and all our key performance indicators were achieved”, Wallace continued.

Wallace was especially pleased with Tim Lang and Zach Malvik’s performance in the win “Tim Lang was very good inside for us countering Canberra’s two quality big men in Jeffers and Rice. I thought that he provided a great balance to our group and allowed the rest of the team to play in their rightful positions.”

“Zach Malvik also provided great backcourt leadership and organisation and you could really see him getting comfortable with his role”.

Kilsyth are now 2-5 and Wallace, though happy to get the win, wants the group to stay focused on the season ahead, “It is but one win; we need to not get too carried away with ourselves and must now build on this performance against Hobart at home this Saturday night” he concluded.

The Swinburne Kilsyth Cobra fans are now waiting patiently for Saturday night’s game against the Hobart Chargers, hoping to see their first win on Hugh McMenamin court for the year.

The Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras next game sees them take on the Hobart Chargers on Saturday May 14. Tip Off is 8:15pm on Hugh McMenamin Court.

Kilsyth Basketball are hosting the 2011 Under 16 National Championships this July, Volunteer and Business opportunities are available email megan.martin@kilsythbasketball.com.au for further information. 

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