STORM’S STUMBLE RAISES PRESSURE
BELLARINE Storm leader Michael Hammond admits his side faces an uphill road to the finals following Saturday night’s loss to Melbourne University.
The Storm, needing to win to improve their hopes of making the top six, went down 81-99 to the 10th placed Black Angels on Saturday night.
It now means Bellarine must win both games in the last two rounds of the season to lock in a spot in the Big V Division 1 finals.
“It probably wasn’t our best game for the year,” Hammond said.
“We were in it early, but in the third quarter they got a bit of a run-on and kept us at arm’s reach.
“We probably went away from our game plan. We saw it was turning bad and we tried to step up and went away from the things we do well.”
The loss meant the Storm is just a game clear of Collingwood in sixth, but the All Stars have a game in hand.
“We were talking during the week, and we had three games to go (before the Melbourne Uni game), but we knew if we could take care of business in at least two of them that we’d be in a good spot,” Hammond said.
“But the other two remaining games are against quality opposition, so we’ve made it tough for ourselves.
“We’re still a chance. On any day we can beat any team, we’re pretty confident of that, but we’re going up to Shepparton on Saturday and the following Saturday we’ve got Keysborough, so two tough games.”
Storm toppled Shepparton earlier in the season, but travels to meet the third-placed Gators in a do-or-die clash at Shepparton Sports Stadium.
Bellarine will finish the home-and-away season against the Cougars at Rowville Secondary College on July 27.
In other results, Corio Bay went down to Blackburn Vikings 91-105 at the Geelong Basketball Netball Centre yesterday, while Bellarine Storm’s Division 1 women’s team rebounded from Saturday night’s loss to Chelsea Gulls (80-91) to beat Warrandyte Venom 61-88 yesterday.