National trials v Gosford

National Trials

Loss 50-42

This was the most important game of the season, so far, for the boys national campaign. The winner of this trial would get the easiest run through the nationals, topping one of the groups which meant they would not having to face up to a strong Melbourne teams in the first round.

Sadly, this could not have been a worst timed game for Hills.

It came the day after a three-day metro camp - where eight of our boys were pushed to their limits by NSW Basketball coaches - and the day before our SJC semi-finals.

The timing meant that there was no team training in the week leading up to two crucial games and the boys travelled to Gosford tired and sore.

It showed from almost the first whistle.

Gosford leapt out of the blocks playing some great in-the-face defence that late in the first quarter threw the boys off their game. Fortunately on the defensive end we kept it together and we needed to with Gosford taking 13 shots to our five.

As usual, Gosford player Oli – a small forward with impressive skills – was important for the Rebels, often carrying his team with his scoring and creating holes with his ability to attract defence. He has remarkable timing – the moment any of our defenders sagged he made a drive either scoring or getting to the free-throw line.

At the end of the first quarter we were down 9-6.

In the second quarter, we started to penetrate the key, made a couple of fast breaks and looked for our bigs were fed the ball down low. In fact when our bigs did get the ball in the post, the additional size of our boys made them almost unstoppable and gave us rebound opportunities that were lacking in the first quarter.

We also stood tall inside and forced Gosford to change shots giving us a 19-16 lead.

This continued in the third quarter and we feeling confident with a six point lead at 33-27.

However, by the time we reached the fourth it was very obvious to the mums and dads on the sidelines that the boys were running on the smell of an oily rag. The boys who played in the last quarter clearly struggled and in the final four minutes they made some fundamental errors that gave Gosford some easy points.

Gosford came away with a deserved 50-42 win although the boys are hungry to take them on again in the state finals.

The coaches asked the boys to make sure they got a decent nights sleep to take on the Sutherland Sharks in the semi-finals the next day.