While the Maverick’s men lost Sundays matchup against a highly rated Forestville 68-134, they had broken the drought and enjoyed their first win of the season on Saturday night as they claimed the Sabres scalp 90-76. The win put a dampener on Sturt’s season as they will now have to rely on the several results going their way to creep back into the finals.

The Eastern Mavericks men finally broke their 14 game losing streak for the season with a highly entertaining win over the Sturt Sabres on Saturday night. In a game with 13 lead changes and an almost equal split of time with the lead, it was the Mavericks who came home strong in the final stanza, earning their first win and knocking Sturt out of the top 5 with 2 games to go in the season. On the night, Sturt relied heavily on sharpshooter Matthew Dougherty (22 points, 9 rebounds) and Sam Daly (22 points, 8 rebounds), Dougherty had 17 first half points, including 3 from 7 beyond the arc, and looked to have his eye in early.

At the other end Eastern found they had more players capable of scoring, finishing with all 5 starters in double figures, including Shane and Stuart Breheny, Haydn Barns, Curtis Scipio and Daniel Lean. Sturt got off to the faster start, sitting 11-4 mid way through the first quarter, but in the following 5 minutes Eastern went on a 19-7 run with an even spread from 7 contributors to enter the first break with a 5 point buffer.

The second term saw the home side Sturt regain momentum, they levelled the score with the first two baskets before Stuart Breheny edged the Mavericks back out again with the following 3 scores for Eastern. Max Calligeros had an important 6 points for Sturt that saw them close the gap and a basket to Daly tied it up at 31 all mid way through the period. Stuart Breheny then joined his brother on 8 points and Barns stripped his player as he attempted to drive and ran the ball down court for a layup. Dougherty had the Sabres back in front with another three pointer and Adam Gavranich finally got his second basket with a minute to go after scoring the first of the game.  Another from Daly on the buzzer had Sturt leading by 3 points at the long break.

Eastern were playing a zone as the second half started, doubling the ball and sliding in defence, it took a minute to get it working as Sturt scored the first 4 points, but then it seemed to click as Sturts points dried up and the Mavericks went on an 8 point run, Scipio poked the ball loose and scooped it out to Lean who dribbled down court and dished back to Scipio for the fast break layup that had Eastern back in front by a point. They traded the lead with alternating baskets before Barns and then Scipio close behind him drilled big three’s to stretch the Mavs lead to 5. Sturt came home strong in the last 3 minutes of the term with shots from behind the arc registering for Dougherty and Daly and took the quarter by 1 point to stretch the margin to 4. The final stanza was an epic 33 point term for the Mavericks including 14 points to Stuart Breheny and 5 to Shane as the brothers drew their team level at 66 all 2 minutes in.

The Sabres continued to look to Dougherty but he couldn’t land a shot in the last quarter, Daly and Gavranich kept them within reach before Scipio landed a flurry of crucial baskets. With 6 points the difference Sturt began to foul with 30 seconds to play, they sent Shane Breheny, Will Smith, Lean and then Stuart Breheny again to the line, the Mavericks put away 8 from 8 to seal the win by 14 points. Stuart Breheny bounced back from last week with style, shooting 11/19 and adding 14 rebounds for a double-double. Brother Shane Breheny also added 13 rebounds to his 17 points. Eastern Mavericks 90 (St Breheny 26, Sh Breheny 17, Barns, Scipio 13) defeated Sturt Sabres 76 (Dougherty 22, Daly 22, Gavranich 13).

In Sundays match Against Forestville the Mavericks couldn’t carry off another upset against the much more experienced Eagles. After a 32 to 14 start they never looked challenged, with both Adam Gibson and Neil Mottram racking up 10 points each in the first. St Breheny continued his good shooting form, making 3 from 4 attempts but Brother Shane was off, shooting just 1 of 6.

Forestville’s rebounding and 7 trips to the line to the Mavericks 1 aided their fast start. The second term was better for the Mavericks, making 21 points with 6 to Shane Breheny and 7 to Scipio, who was perfect from behind the arc with 2. However once again the Eagles piled on more points in a dominant display, adding 28 thanks to Trent Fildes 12 (6 of 7 from the field).

The game became messy in the third quarter but It didn’t slow the Eagles down as they saw out a massive 40 point quarter, Jake Rios finally got involved with 13 points for the term and Gibson added another 12 to his tally. Eastern put in a hard effort in the final stanza, scoring their highest points for the game at 24, nineteen of those coming from the bench which was good game time experience for some up and coming Mavs.

Fildes stole the show with 24 final quarter points in what looked like shooting practice for the Eagles, they continued to dish him the ball as he had the hot hand, shooting 6 out of 8 attempts from down town and slotting in a few inside the arc too. He finished with a big double-double, adding 12 rebounds to his 39 points. Gibson also racked up the stats as he dished 10 assists while scoring 28 points. Eastern Mavericks 68 (Scipio 13, Sh Breheny 11, St Breheny 10) defeated by Forestville Eagles 134 (Fildes 39, Gibson 28, Rios 20).

Stats Webcast - Sabres Vs Mavericks 

Stats Webcast - Mavericks Vs Forestville

By Lachlan Eggers