Left: Raider Lester Strong scores a slam-dunk in the match against the Kilsyth Cobras.THE Kilsyth Cobras have retained the Cystic Fibrosis Cup after a tense double header.
However, the Cobras didn’t win outright but in an unusual set of circumstances took out the cup by default.
After the totals of both the men’s and women’s games, the scores were tied at 168 points each, ending the face-off in a tie.
The Cobras held the cup from 2007 and will retain it following the draw.
More than 1,000 basketball fans turned up for the much-anticipated cup at the Knox Converse Stadium where the women were the first to tip off.
The Kilsyth Lady Cobras recorded an impressive victory over arch rival Knox Raiders 83-62.
Sarah Parsons 20 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists and Clare Papavs 22 pts, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals led the way for the Cobras and proved a handful for the inexperienced Raiders.
Second year player Hayley Moffatt continued her impressive start to the season recording 16 pts.
However, Raiders import Ashlee Dunlap (15 points, 15 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks) found her rhythm in the offence early and notched up some early buckets to go with another dominant performance on the boards.
But it was the Cobras’ combination of Papvas and Parsons that the Raiders found hard to contain and at half time the Cobras led by 8.
The Lady Cobras led for 39 minutes of the match and never looked in doubt against the heavily recruited Raiders.
However, in the second half Knox clawed its way back within 5 points but continued to struggle guarding the paint, being outscored 44-22 off the floor.
Star import, Chantella Perera, was kept to only 9 field goal attempts but still managed to record 13 points and 5 rebounds.
The Cobras fought off mini Raider runs in the fourth to record an 83-62 final score. Knox now drops to 3 wins and 3 losses after the first four rounds of the SEABL season.
Raiders coach Heath Anderson was disappointed by the loss but said his team could learn a lot from this.
“We struggled in the first quarter and couldn’t find any momentum from there. Kilsyth played very physical and we found ourselves in a little foul trouble,” said Anderson.
“This type of loss is characteristically of a young group and we need to take the positives out and improve on the mistakes.
“Our ability to guard the paint of defence was a major factor.”
The Lady Cobras have now clawed their way up to fourth on the SEABL ladder.
The Lady Cobras’ 21-point victory was crucial in Kilsyth retaining the Cystic Fibrosis Cup as the men’s team was blown off the court by the Raiders.
Down by as much as 30 points late in the fourth quarter, Gerard Leonard and Zach Malvik hit some late shots to pull the deficit back to 21.
But the late charge from Cobras wasn’t enough and they went down to the Raiders 85-106.
Raider CJ Massingale (22 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists) led the charge, scoring 8 points in the first three minutes of play.
But former Raider Gerard Leonard (24 points, 6 rebounds) responded with a pair of three pointers for the Cobras and after a seesawing opening quarter, it was the Raiders, who led it by four.
The second quarter opened the game up for Knox with Lester Strong (19 points, 16 rebounds and 4 blocks) providing some solid interior defence and rebounding, and throwing down a dunk that shook the basketball ring structure with the fans on their feet.
The Raiders went into the main break with a 55-38 buffer and had solid contributions from all players.
The third quarter saw much of the same for the Cobras, only scoring 15 points for the quarter and gave up 25 points to their archrival.
Big man Paul McMaster (12 points, 5 rebounds), Nick Payne (12 points, 6 rebounds) and Sean Carroll (10 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists) were a handful for the opposition and did a great job defensively on the Cobras guards.
With a 27-point lead going into the last term of play, the Raiders were poised to win the cup back off the Cobras as they had to win by 22.
At one stage they stretched their lead out to 30, but it was a late run by Kilsyth that saw them peg the lead back to 18 with seconds to go.
A Wes Pate three pointer on the buzzer for Knox resulted in a convincing 21-point win for the Raiders, but it was only good enough for a tie on cummulative score with the women’s game, meaning the Cobras would retain the cup for another year.
