Crocs secure home final with Blaze win - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Crocs secure home final with Blaze win

By Ben Galvin 15/02/2008 11:45:06 PM Comments (0)

Townsville secured a home NBL final and laid down its serious championship credentials with a 101-81 victory over the Gold Coast at Townsville Entertainment Centre.

The victory ensures the Crocodiles will finish at least fifth while the Blaze suffered their third straight loss and limp into the playoffs in eighth position.

Galen Young laid the foundations for the Crocs victory with another MVP performance of 14 points and 9 rebounds.

Young didn't do it all alone with Drew Williamson (16 points), Kelvin Robertson (14), Corey Williams (12) and Michael Cedar (10) all reaching double figures.

Gold Coast were right in the match up until Townsville erupted away with a 32 point third quarter.

James Harvey netted 17 points to be the best performer for the Blaze while Ben Melmeth (13) and Casey Frank (12) also contributed.

Young posted seven first quarter points to give Townsville a six point buffer at the first break while Ben Melmeth's six points kept the Coast in the hunt.

Young and Williams continued the Crocs early momentum extending the lead to 10 before Harvey's 12 first half points halted the local's run and put Gold Coast back in the contest 49-45 at the main break.

The Crocs surged again after the half racing to a 24-point lead with Drew Williamson lighting up from beyond the arc and some strong work from Ben Pepper under the basket.

Townsville's 32-point third quarter explosion sealed the Gold Coast's fate with the fourth quarter little more than a chance for Townsville to tune up for a home final berth.

Townsville coach Trevor Gleeson praised his side's all-round performance and the impact of Young.

"The bigger the game the better Galen plays, he has a lot of experience and he is bringing that to the table and the other guys are feeding off him," said Gleeson.

"The guys played well, especially after halftime they really knuckled down so I was pretty pleased with our defence intensity.

Then the offence started to flow when we were moving the ball.

"We have been playing like that for the last month or so. It was good that we got that consistency level.

"We have got the inner belief in ourselves that when we play the right way we can compete with anybody in this league."

Blaze coach Brendan Joyce conceded his side had some work to do in the lead up to the play-offs.

"We would have liked a better performance. We played two quarters of basketball and obviously the third quarter was a huge discrepancy for us.

"Looking at the offence end we need better ball movement, we need to share the ball. We got a little too much one-on-one happening and things stagnate and we were easy to guard.

"We have to address our offence and that's something that is fixable and we have just got to have the discipline to get it done."

Brought to you by AAP AAP © 2024 AAP

0 Comments about this article

Post a comment about this article

Please sign in to leave a comment.
Becoming a member is free and easy, sign up here.

« All sports news