Supercats too strong, defeat league leaders

THE Supercats have landed a massive coup in the SEABL season defeating league leaders Kilsyth in a dramatic overtime victory.

Leading at all major breaks, the Supercats survived a late Kilsyth surge in regulation, to prove too strong in overtime to run away with the win 96-89.

Coach Leon O’Neill lauded the efforts of his players across the entire game, especially in the extended period, managing to avoid two consecutive overtime losses.

“We played hard today, we came out all guns blazing and I think they had to call a time-out in the first two minutes and set the tone early on,” O’Neill said.

“We didn’t really speak about it (last week’s loss) but it was fresh in our memory and we were able to stick to what got us to overtime a little better.

“We got the right shots to the right people at the right time rather than trying to take over for ourselves.”

Once again there was a spread of scorers for the Supercats across the board, highlighted by captain Nathan Herbert’s 31 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

John Davis continued his terrific season scoring 26 points to go with his eight rebounds.

The Kilsyth victory came after a dominant performance against Frankston at the Arena on Saturday night, which now sees them sit in sixth position on the SEABL ladder.

The Supercats made up for their shock loss to Frankston just three games ago to defeat them in convincing fashion.

The 104-88 win came off the back of another incredible scoring game from Herbert.

Herbert scored a ridiculous 37 points while also managing seven assists, five rebounds and three steals to make it a weekend to remember.

“For a guy who is playing his seventeenth or eighteenth SEABL season and draws one of the better defenders every week, it was just phenomenal,” O’Neill said.

“Some of the shots he was able to make under pressure were just ridiculous.”

“In the fourth quarter (against Frankston) he had 19 points alone and really carried us over the line.”

“As well as working a fulltime job and spending time with his family he’s able to put in performances like that on the weekends and we are very lucky to have him on our side.”

The in-form Herbert came off the bench with coach Leon O’Neill deciding to start Nick Owusu for his first game in 671 days.

Owusu managed just under 15 minutes in his return game scoring three points and assisting another three.

“Nick was very good. His defence intensity was probably the most pleasing thing,” said O’Neill.

“He really came in and lifted the tempo and probably played more minutes than I anticipated him playing.

“But he was so good we couldn’t take him off the floor.”