By JARROD POTTER
THE dream remains alive for Sherbrooke Suns – with the league underdogs knocking out Bulleen in a Big V State Championship Men elimination final by 25 points.
The Belgrave-based basketball team negated Boomers’ powerhouses Thadd Varmal (16 points) and kept Liam Norton (27 points) from getting too many shots.
The home-court crowd roared for every Suns point – all 98 of them as star imports Grant Johnson (23 points) and Titus Robinson (12 points, 10 rebounds) combined in their usual fashion to push the Suns ahead 98-73 by the final siren.
Sherbrooke’s outside game reared its head in a big way as the Suns shot 11 three pointers to sink the Boomers.
“We’re really happy – the boys played really well together and it’s a bit of the old cliche – but it was an even team effort,” Suns coach Brent Reid said.
“No one really stood out amazingly, but we just worked really hard each other and played down the line and it showed on the scoreboard.
“Our defence is pretty good – games are generally more of a grind but we really haven’t been able to block teams out for the majority of the season.”
Reid praised his import pair Grant Johnson and Titus Robinson and the workmanlike efforts they put towards the team, as well as the efforts of his young guards to block out and defend the Boomers’ best.
“The two imports were pretty good – Grant’s points were probably down a little bit from usual, shared the ball around and rebounded the ball well,” Reid said.
“Titus is just a workhorse – points, rebounds, blocks and a great guy to have in the team and anchoring the middle.”
The next challenge is a Big V semi-final on Sunday against the reigning premiers – Corio Bay – heading down the highway to face the Stingrays on their home court at the Geelong Basketball Netball Centre.
Having split their previous encounters with the reigning Big V State Championship Men’s premiers Corio Bay, Reid knows the challenge ahead is daunting, but believes the league should not underestimate the Suns any further.
“It will be an absolute ripper,” Reid said.
“You’ve got to go in and back yourself – we’ve done all the hard work, so we might as well have a crack.
“At the start of the year, we were picked to come last or second last – but we know what we can do and it’s taken the rest of the league the whole season to see what we’re capable of and we’re quietly confident – among ourselves we know we can play well and it just putting it up against another quality team in the premiers.”
Tip-off is 1.30pm.
