Supercats go down in one-point thriller
AN agonising one-point loss to Nunawading Spectres overshadowed the Geelong Supercats’ weekend double-header, as they sit outside the top eight.
Coach Leon O’Neill was bitterly disappointed after his side led for the majority of the match yesterday, but the individual brilliance of reigning SEABL MVP Simon Conn lifted the Spectres to an 86-85 victory at The Arena.
O’Neill admitted his side needed to drastically improve its ability to close games out late.
“We didn’t do the little things that good teams need to do to close out close games,” O’Neill said.
“We don’t block out, we don’t rebound the ball with enough discipline and we don’t make free throws.
“It cost us a game earlier in the year against Ballarat and now it’s cost us another game here.
“I’m sort of scratching my head a little bit trying to figure out what we can do differently during the week to try to address this stuff during games.”
The Supercats led in the dying moments of the game but multiple offensive rebounds and a subsequent layup by Conn proved the decisive play to go with his 31 points and 14 rebounds.
O’Neill will spend the week debriefing with his players and coaching staff in an attempt to regain some momentum in their season.
“The message somewhere between here and there is getting lost, so we need to as coaching staff find out a way to be better at communicating what we want to happen,” he said.
In the Supercats’ other game of the weekend, a dominant performance from captain Nathan Herbert proved the difference as Geelong defeated the Sandringham Sabres 97-96 in a Saturday night thriller.
Herbert shot 32 points for the match and was well supported by John Davis (24 points) and DeMarcus Gatlin (19 points).
O’Neill praised his captain’s game but lamented the fact that his side could not rely on talent alone to be a contender come finals.
“Nathan Herbert was brilliant. He made tough shot after tough shot ... he carried us down the stretch,” he said. “There will be nights
where we will be able to rely on the talent of our guys, but if we’re going to contest a SEABL final, then we have to realise that’s not just going to get the job done.
“These are the moments that are really season-defining and I think these next two games are really going to let us know if we’re fair dinkum about making any noise come finals time or if we’re just making up the numbers.”