Seahawks in battle to avoid the spoon

NORTH Gold Coast Seahawks coach Adam Tyrus says his side’s improvement will count for nothing if it is not able to avoid the Queensland Basketball League wooden spoon tomorrow.

The Seahawks take on Southern Districts in a game to determine who “wins” the dreaded QBL spoon.

While they sit just one win above the Spartans on the ladder with a worse percentage, the Seahawks can still avoid the spoon if they lose by less than five points after beating the Spartans by five in their Round 12 clash.

“All our hard work in the last six weeks would be undone if we don’t perform well this weekend,” Tyrus said.

“All the boys have been fired up for the last couple of months and we’re looking to carry some momentum into the off-season.

“We performed really well against Spartans last time, so we’re looking to do the same.

“The equation is they need to win by six or more to get off the bottom but we’re ignoring that, we want the win.

“We don’t want to lose by less than five, we want to win.”

The Seahawks were predictable – and therefore beatable – in the opening rounds of the season given the prominence of their imports.

But Tyrus said the improvement of the team overall had led to them becoming a competitive force.

“It really will take a team effort. It sounds cliched but it’s part of our success over the last couple of months,” he said.

“The first part of the season we really relied on one or two guys to carry us and we were too easy to defend.

“Other teams would lock those two guys down. I put our success down to the contribution of all 12 players.”

The Seahawks women take on Spartans in a warm-up for their first playoff series where they are likely to face off against heavyweights Townsville.

The Rollers last night kept their men’s QBL playoff hopes alive with a 107-100 win over Ipswich at Carrara,

Jack McVeigh and Dwayne Vale (both 23 points) led the way for the home side.

The Rollers women losy 82-71 in the earlier contest.