Wildcats Tighten Grip on Wooden Spoon

by noelrr
20/05/2012

The Parramatta Basketball Association has taken a firm grip on the wooden spoon, in both the men's and women's divisions of the 2012 Waratah Championship League (WCL) competition, following their respective games against the Sutherland Sharks. The Wildcats were in Sutherland on Saturday night to meet the Sharks and both games (men and women) had been touted as preludes for which teams would eventually take out this year's wooden spoons. In an unusual chain of events, the men's game started the night's action at 5pm and the Wildcats were very slow out of the blocks, taking half of the opening quarter to notch their first points of the game. Meanwhile, the Sharks had slowly slipped away to an 8-0 lead but neither team overly excited the scorers, with the first term ending with the home team in front 18-12. Both teams continued to dawdle their way through the second term, with the Sharks leading 37-32 at the main break, then the Wildcats simply exploded into action. Shooting guard Adi Causevic and point guard Tyrone Davey led a spirited fightback from the visitors, which saw the Wildcats stage a seventeen-point turnaround at one stage of the term, before the Sharks edged back slightly to trail 61-54 at the final break in play. Parramatta fans were subsequently left speechless in the final quarter, as the Wildcats simply shut down for the night, scoring a paltry eight points in the term as the Sharks surged home for a 78-69 win. Wildcats head coach Merve Tait was livid after the game, stating "I blasted the players at half time". "We (Parramatta) were lethargic in warm-up and terrible in the first half" said Tait. "To their (Sutherland) credit, they wanted it (the win) more than we did and they (Sutherland) played out of their skins". "Sutherland really looked after the ball and the stats back that up - we had seventeen turnovers to their four and they had ten steals to our one", said Tait. Things didn't get any better in the second game of the night, with the Lady Sharks out-running the Lady Wildcats to win 73-38. Coach Tait said "Our girls played with great heart and even the Sutherland coach commented on our (Wildcats) commitment and effort". "We (Parramatta) never gave up but we simply ran out of legs in the final quarter" said Tait. "Some of our girls have stepped up two or three divisions to play WCL this year but it hasn't stopped them giving everything to the team every week". The Wildcats men host the Maitland Mustangs at the Auburn Basketball Centre, Church Street, Lidcombe this Saturday night, with tip-off at 5pm. The Parramatta women have a bye. MEN: Sutherland Sharks 78 (Cameron Stewart 26 points, 10 boards; Tony Trajceski 14 points, 9 boards, 4 blocked shots) def Parramatta Wildcats 69 (Adi Causevic 18 points; Goran Veg 10 points, 15 boards; Tyrone Daley 9 points; Mark Musgrave 9; Jed Atherton 9) WOMEN: Sutherland Sharks 73(Michelle Joy 26 points, 10 boards; Peta Kneen 16 points) def Parramatta Wildcats 38 (Emma Bramston 12 points, Evelyn Adu 8)

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