Saints squander chance against Warriors

Myrtleford’s CBL team will be disappointed with their efforts from the weekend, coming up short and found lacking on their home court. Taking to the Myrtleford Indoor Sports Stadium on Sunday afternoon, the Saints were unable to replicate their previous good form, going down to Wangaratta Warriors 63-70, the Warriors first win of the year. The match started well enough, with Myrtleford trailing by just the one point after a quarter of play, but Wangaratta was able to open up a 10-point buffer through the second quarter, putting the Saints on the back foot. They tried to change up their offensive profile through the back half of the match, but the shots just weren’t falling, and although they won the final term, the deficit was too great to overcome. Coach Marcus La Spina said it was an unfortunate display. “Not the result that we were hoping for over the weekend - coming up against Wangaratta with no wins, we were disappointed with not coming away with another win on the board,” he said. “Wangaratta, all credit to them, stopped any momentum for us to be able to get out and run as well as clogging up the key and forcing us to kick the ball out for open threes. “We had a lot of good chances and I got a lot of good open looks but unfortunately on the weekend none of the outside threes were dropping. “The boys fought hard all game and I can't take anything away from Wangaratta other than saying they were the better side on the day.” Levi Young top scored for the Saints with 17 points to his name, while Oliver Gianello (14pts) made a strong return to the side after some injury concerns. “It was great to see Oliver back in action after some mild strains to his Achilles in the Albury game, and his intensity and rebounding was fantastic,” La Spina said. “Levi and myself were able to put a few points on the board but ultimately did not stand up enough to be able to help lead the boys and bring us over that finish line. “It was going to take a whole team effort, and we simply just didn't execute the little things like rebound in and allow too many second chance points, where Wangaratta were aggressive on the offensive rebound side of things able to clean up any misses. “We looked to mix up a few of our offensive sets and have a few different looks, however, in the game of basketball, if you're not able to hit or knockdown any outside three-point shots, the game just doesn't open up and Wang continued to pack the paint, making it difficult to get easy layup or basket.” The loss sees Myrtleford slide to fifth overall on the CBL ladder, with the upcoming bye a chance to reassess and plan for the back end of the year. “There were a lot of learning opportunities for us and will continue to go away and work on our ability to score in the half court on a walk up when we don't have a fast break opportunity, as well as put in an emphasis on securing rebounds after we forced them into tough shots that they missed, not allowed an easy second chance points which really hurt us,” La Spina said. “The bye comes at a good time where I think we're able to take what we've learnt from this first half of the season and close out on the next few weeks where we look to push and reach our ultimate goal of making finals as this is something we have spoken about and set at the start of the season.”

Saints squander chance against Warriors

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