Posted on 1 June, 2011

After a disappointing start to the season the Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras (6-5) have put together an impressive five game winning streak and are now sitting fourth on the ladder just behind Dandenong in third.

It was a big weekend down in Tasmania for Kilsyth with back-to-back wins over the Hobart Chargers and the North West Tasmanian Tall Timbers Thunder. The Swinburne Cobras defeated the Chargers by 10 points and Tall Timbers by 12.

After defeating Hobart at home by 11 points just 2 weeks earlier the Swinburne Cobras knew that they were in for a tough return match. The game began evenly with the Chargers managing to take a two point lead into the first break. The second quarter belonged to Kilsyth outscoring Hobart by 11 points to take a nine point lead into half time.

The third quarter saw Hobart reduce Kilsyth’s lead to just four points, before getting themselves into foul trouble. The Swinburne Cobras then pulled away to win the quarter by four points and go into the last with a 13 point lead. The Last quarter was a hotly contested one with the Chargers throwing everything they had at Kilsyth but Kilsyth held strong.

The Swinburne Cobras came up with all the plays in the last three minutes after Hobart had managed to pull the margin back to just five points, and ran out 10 point victors. Kilsyth really hurt the Chargers errors, scoring 13 times from turnovers compared to Hobart’s two.

Zach Malvik began the game on fire and in what was his best match since returning to Kilsyth this year, shooting at 70% and finishing up with 24 points. Kilsyth’s big men, Tim Lang (19pts, 11rbds) and Auryn McMillan (17pts, 11rbds) continued their good form and Quincy Henderson (16pts, 8rbds) led from the front yet again.

The work down in Tasmania was not over for the Swinburne Cobras, backing up on the Saturday night against NW Tasmania. The last time these two sides met it was round three and the beginning of a form slump for Kilsyth. Come round eight and the tables were reversed with the Swinburne Cobras having won their past four and NW Tasmania having lost the past five games.

Kilsyth showed no signs of lethargy having played the night before, jumping out of the blocks with the first eight unanswered points of the game. With the likes of Shawntes Garry and Eric Gaff it was not going to be long before NW Tasmania hit back and they did just that trailing by just three points at the first break.

The second quarter saw NW Tasmania hit the front at the two and a half minute mark for the only time during the match. Kilsyth hit back quickly and ensured that they controlled the scoreboard with Tim Lang and Zach Malvik dropping important three pointers, the Swinburne Cobras took a five point lead into half time.

The third quarter started slowly with neither side able to capitalize on their shots’, that was until Quincy Henderson put up five points in under a minute to increase the Swinburne Cobras lead to 10. Kilsyth went into the last leading by nine and knew that they would have to hold off the home side if they wanted to return with two wins. With Shawntes Garry (29pts) going down with a back injury early in the last and some great shooting from Tim Lang and Zach Malvik and valuable minutes from David Moore, NW Tasmania found themselves unable to overcome Kilsyth.

Tim Lang was man of the match with 27 points and 11 rebounds and finished the weekend with 46 points and 22 rebounds, Zach Malvik continued his food form from the night before helping himself to 25 points to finish the weekend with 49. Quincy Henderson put in a great defensive game and ended with nine points and nine rebounds.

The 12 point victory was the fifth in a row for the Swinburne Cobras and puts them in a good place to tackle 2010 SEABL Champions Geelong this Saturday night on the road before returning to host Brisbane on Sunday.

The Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras play their next game on Saturday June 4 down at Geelong against the Supercats; tip-off is at 7:30pm. They then return home for a match against Brisbane tip-off is at 2.30pm on Hugh McMenamin Court.