Posted on 2 April, 2012

It was a disappointing night at Knox Basketball Stadium for the Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras on Saturday with the women going down by 15 points and the men going down in the dying minutes by three points. Kilsyth then returned home on Sunday afternoon to take on the Sandringham Sabres with the women winning by 10 points and the men by 11.

Saturday night’s game saw the Swinburne Kilsyth Lady Cobras start on even pegging with the Knox Raiders trailing by just one point at the end of the first quarter. However Knox outscored the Swinburne Lady Cobras by 15 points, 27-12, in the second term to take a commanding 16 point lead at half time.

The Knox Raiders continued their control of the game leading by as much as 22 points in the third, until Gemma Kerr managed to get a late basket to have the Swinburne Lady Cobras going into the final term trailing by 20. Determined to make a go of it in the last, the Swinburne Lady Cobras picked up the intensity to make the last quarter more of a ball game, getting as close as 12 points with two and a half minutes remaining.

However the deficit was too great and Knox were able to finish the game 14 point winners. Hayley Moffatt top scored with 14 points, Chantella Perera also finished the game in double figures with 12 points.

Saturday night’s last quarter form for the Swinburne Kilsyth Lady Cobras continued on into their game on Sunday against Sandringham giving the home crowd something to cheer about with an eight point quarter time lead.

Sarah Parsons was causing headaches for Sandringham having six steals by half time to help give the Swinburne Lady Cobras a 12 point half time buffer. The Swinburne Lady Cobras came out after half time full of energy increasing their lead to as much as 15 points with five minutes left of the clock, Sandringham managed to bring the Swinburne Lady Cobras lead to just eight points before late baskets to Kristen Barnes and Sarah Parsons.

The last quarter saw a more persistent Sandringham refusing to go away and managing to reduce the lead to just five points with just under a minute left of the clock, however Kilsyth closed out the game coming away with a hard fought 10 point win.

Chantella Perera continued her great form with 22 points, six rebounds and three assists, Hayley Moffatt finished on 17 points and eight rebounds while Sarah Parsons had a game high six steals, six assists and nine points. 

The Swinburne Kilsyth Lady Cobras can now enjoy the Easter break before taking on Nunawading on Saturday 14 April on Hugh McMenamin Court, tip-off is at 6.15pm.

The Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras started the game strongly against Knox on Saturday, jumping out of the blocks to have a 15 point lead at the first break, thanks to 11 points from Garfield Blair and eight from big man Tim Lang.

The Swinburne Cobras kept control of the game in the second however were only able to extend their lead by one, to go into half time leading by 16 points. A different look Knox side came out after half time proving that you can’t keep a good side down for the entire game, CJ Massingale who had been well held by Garfield Blair up in till half time started to find space and began causing headaches for the Swinburne Cobras, helping Knox reduce the Swinburne Cobras lead to just four points with five minutes left in the quarter.

The Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras pushed their lead back out to eight points before Knox made a real run at them managing to have scores all tied up going into the last.

The last quarter had everything one comes to expect from a Kilsyth v Knox game with both teams trading baskets for the first five minutes of the last quarter. Knox managed to get the upper hand leading by four points with a bit over a minute remaining before Garfield Blair banged down a three pointer ensuring that the final minute of play was going to be edge of your seat stuff.

Lester Strong made two late free throws to have Knox leading by three with just six seconds remaining in the game, unfortunately for the Swinburne Cobras Garfield Blair missed a three point attempt to push the game into overtime.

Tim Lang (22pts, 10rbds) and Auryn Macmillan (13pts, 10rbds) both finished the game with double-double’s, while Garfield Blair (18pts, 4 rbds) and Zach Malvik (13pts, 6rbds) finished the game in double figures.                                                                                                             

Returning home to Hugh McMenamin Court on Sunday afternoon to take on the Sandringham Sabres who had gone down by six points in a tight game against Geelong the night before, the Swinburne Cobras were keen to make amends for the three point loss the night before.

Sandringham took a four point lead at the first break on the back of a fantastic quarter from former Kilsyth Cobra Luke Kendall who finished the quarter with 11 points. Sandringham continued pressing hard in the second leading by as much as 15 points, before the Swinburne Cobras managed to bring the lead back to just 10 going into half time.

After half time a different Kilsyth side hit the court taking control of the game outscoring Sandringham 20-9 to lead by one going into the last quarter. Garfield Blair and Tim Lang combined in the last to score 16 of the Swinburne Cobras 23 last quarter points to give the Swinburne Cobras an eleven point win.

Garfield Blair top scored with 27 points, now averaging 25.8 points per game second highest in the League, Tim Lang (16pts, 13rbds) finished the game with his second double double for the weekend.

The Swinburne Kilsyth Cobras can now enjoy the Easter break before taking on Nunawading on Saturday 14 April on Hugh McMenamin Court, tip-off is at 8.15pm.