Posted on 25 July, 2011

Coming in to the game the Braves were on an eight game winning streak having only been defeated twice thus far this season and it was easy to see why Bendigo is so highly fancied as they led for the majority of the first three quarters.

The opening quarter was close with the Braves taking a three point lead at the break; the first five minutes of the second quarter saw the Braves get out to a six point lead, however Kilsyth came back to win the quarter, 21-19 to trail by just one point at half time.

Both teams traded baskets early on in the third quarter until the final three minutes when Bendigo dominated the play to again jump out to a six point lead, but a Matt O’Hea basket and Tim Lang shooting truly from the foul line brought the margin back to two points until Bendigo’s Adam Tanner made one of his two baskets to push the lead back out to four points leading into the last quarter.

The last quarter was all Kilsyth’s as they shot at 61.5% from the field compared to the Braves who shot at just 31.6% from the field, up by eight points with just over two minutes on the clock, the Swinburne Cobras went into bonus and the game was in the almost in the bag. A three point basket from Bendigo’s Chris Hogan with a minute left on the clock had the crowd on the edge of their seat as the margin was reduced to just five; however Kilsyth was not going to let the game out of their grasp as they closed out the game to win by nine.

Zach Malvik (30pts, 4as) was superb shooting at 69% in what was his best game this season; he was well supported by Auryn McMillan (18pts, 8rbds) and Matt O’Hea (13pts, 5rbds).

The Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras now face back to back games this coming weekend with Sandringham away on Saturday night before returning home to take on Mt Gambier on Sunday afternoon, tip-off for Sunday’s game is 2.30pm on Hugh McMenamin Court.

Check out the Kilsyth Cobras Locker Room online store at http://kilsyth.hoop2hoop.com.au/ for all your Basketball needs.