Supercats captain Owusu leads the way in rebound win over Hawks

THE Geelong Supercats bounced back from Wednesday night’s loss against Ballarat with a 88-77 win against the Ringwood Hawks on Saturday night.

Geelong took a 10-point lead at the main break after a steady first half, but the Hawks come within three points with three minutes to go after a stirring fourth-quarter fightback.

The Supercats managed to steady, and Ringwood was forced to foul, putting Geelong at the line and extending the lead to win by 11 points.

DeMarcus Gatlin led all scorers with 26 points to go with seven rebounds and five assists. AJ Williams added 22 points, while Lewis Thomas grabbed nine rebounds to go with 10 points and seven assists.

Coach Leon O’Neill also praised captain Nick Owusu for his role in the win.

“Owusu led from the front this game,” O’Neill said.

“He came with energy, set the tone defensively and really got us going. The stats don’t tell the story of how well he played.

“We had another good spread of contributors across the whole team. We didn’t have to rely on just one person.”

With one game left before finals, and a bye next week for the Supercats, O’Neill is pleased with the way his team is playing.

“We want to head into finals playing good basketball,” he said.

“We don’t want to allow other teams to dictate the way we play, and for the most part we’ve been able to do that.

“If we play the right way for us, we are tough to beat.”

The Supercats return to The Arena on Saturday, July 20, to host the Bendigo Braves.