Knox Raider, CJ Massingale takes the ball to the basket in a game against Geelong. By Greg Oakford
THE Knox Ford Raiders men suffered their first home defeat of the season on Saturday night, going down to three-time conference defending champion Geelong Supercats 104-99 at Knox Converse Stadium.
Despite the phenomenal night CJ Massingale had in front a 1,000 plus crowd, the Supercats hung tough at the closing stages of the game to take the four-point win to take them to an 8-2 record.
CJ finished with a SEABL league high score for 2008 to date with 47 points on 57 per cent field goal shooting, including five three-pointers and connecting on 16 of 18 free throws.
The dynamic import and early season MVP candidate not only filled up the scoring column of the stats sheet but led the Raiders in the rebound tally with nine.
He also caused havoc on the defensive end of the floor recording 6 steals and a highlight reel blocked shot that had the fans out of their seats.
The Supercats got the jump on the home team early and took a 9-point lead into the end of the first quarter.
CJ had 18 of Knox’s 26 in the opening term but it was the defence of the Raiders that let them down in the first giving up 35 points.
The second quarter saw Geelong assert their depth into the game and got good production from their bench, in particular, Brad Bridgewater (19 points, 11 rebounds) and Nick Owusu (14 points 5 rebounds), outscoring the Raiders 38-20 in bench points.
An excellent defensive team that has a lot of size, the Supercats troubled the Raiders in getting good looks at the basket.
CJ was relentless in getting to the rack and was fouled 12 times throughout the game, resulting in shooting 18 free throw attempts, which kept the Raiders afloat going into the main break only down by 8.
After the half-time address from coach Graham Longstaff, his chargers came out firing in the third and outscored the visiting Cats 30-20 to take a two-point advantage into what was going to be a cliffhanging final term.
It was bucket for bucket in the fourth with both teams playing at playoff intensity but it was the Supercats that made some crucial plays in the game’s dying stages.
Two backbreaking offensive rebounds in the final 80 seconds of play saw valuable seconds tick off the clock for the Raiders in a two possession game.
The Supercats had a very balanced attack in what is arguably the league’s deepest bench.
Shawn Myers finished the game with 18 points and 9 rebounds and South Dragons player Nathan Herbert tallied up 17 points and 7 rebounds after a tiring night chasing the dominant Massingale around on defence.
The Raiders now slip to 5-3 for the year and remain third in the East conference. They will now set their sights on two road victories this weekend in the Apple Isle against Hobart (3-6) on Friday night and North West Tasmania (6-3) on Saturday night.
Earlier, the Knox SEABL women went down to local-rival Nunawading Spectres (6-1) 84-79 in another close encounter.
Trailing all game, the Raiders made a late surge behind a Sarah Graham (13 points) three-point basket but would be stopped just short and fall to fifth on the ladder with a 5-4 record.
Chantella Perera led the Raiders with a 33 point, 7 rebounds and 3 assists performance.
Ashlee Dunlap found her offensive rhythm also recording 18 points on 53 per cent shooting to go with 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.
Coach Heath Anderson’s team will now travel to Ballarat (2-2) this Sunday afternoon to face the Lady Miners.
