CHALLENGE AHEAD FOR STINGRAYS
CORIO Bay doesn’t need any more motivation than the desire to lift itself off the bottom of the Big V championship table when it takes on Blackburn on Sunday, coach Paul Hutchinson says.
The Stingrays have endured an inconsistent 2019, winning just three games for the season. The Vikings have the same record as Corio Bay, with the loser of Sunday’s clash likely to finish last.
Hutchinson said he expected his side to come out with a fire in its belly at Geelong Basketball Netball Centre.
“It’s a great challenge for us because whoever loses that game is pretty much going to finish bottom of the ladder,” Hutchinson said.
“There is a lot of incentive there to play well and play well at home.”
The Stingrays had a disappointing weekend, losing its matches to Casey at home on Saturday and McKinnon on the road on Sunday.
Hutchinson labelled the 107-76 loss to Casey as one the playing group was very disappointed about, but said they responded well in the 125-93 defeat to the table-topping Cougars.
Import Ivory Young had a significant impact for the Stingrays with 29 points across the weekend, while Joseph Reid picked up 30 points against the Cougars and 12 against Casey. “(We led at halftime), but then we had the yips and those third quarter demons again,” Hutchinson said of the Casey loss.
“They got a hold of us, we just couldn’t stop it.”
While the Vikings have struggled this season, Hutchinson said his side could not afford to take them lightly.
“They’re playing some very, very good basketball themselves.
“And that’s the thing with the league, we’ve had a couple of wins but we comfortably could have had a little bit more,” he said.
“Blackburn is by no means an easy pushover. They have one of the best local guards in the league in Jack Heath, who did some damage the last game against us. They have another guy in (Ryan) Bennett who is a very good shooter as well.
“And that’s where we can come unstuck, coming up against teams that have guards that are very high-scoring. It’s another challenge for our guys.”