Eastern coach Brad Hill missed out on starting his Central ABL coaching career with a victory, when his Eastern Mavericks went down to West Adelaide by one point.

After the disappointment of the women’s game the local supporters were looking for something to cheer about. The Mavericks men struggled to find their shooting touch early against West but Adelaide 36er Jeff  Dowdell playing his first game for the Bearcats was on fire.  He had 14 points by the end of the first quarter, eventually going on to be the game high scorer with 33 points.

It looked like an opening round to forget when the Men’s team trailed by 22 points just before the end of the third period. The visitors looked to be in control of the match and heading for a comfortable victory. At the three quarter break there seemed little chance of the Eastern Men staging a remarkable fight back. The home side had only lead for the first few minutes of the game after Lukass Blicavs in his first game had scored the first two baskets.

A change at three quarter time in the defensive strategy completely altered the flow of the game. Under new playing coach Brad Hill Eastern employed a “box and one” to restrict the number of Bearcats baskets from inside the keyway and to curb the dominance of Dowdell.  Hill took on the defensive assignment on the dangerous Dowdell, guarding him one on one.  The change worked with Dowdell held to just one field goal in the last quarter as the Mavericks mounted a charge storming home in the dying minutes.

With just over 2 minutes remaining Jack Madgen the brother of Sydney Kings Guard Ben Madgen and playing his first Central ABL game for the Club, scored, tying the game 80-80. Dowdell scored the next basket to reclaim the lead for West but missed the free throw awarded, Mavs’ Shane Breheny grabbing the loose ball rebound. The outlet pass finished in the hands of Aaron Bruce who was recruited from the Adelaide 36ers to join the team this season. Bruce left open hit his first 3 pointer of the night to give Eastern the lead with less than 2 minutes to play, the Mavs crowd finally having something to cheer about for the first time during the night.

West’s Paul Rankin and Anthony Spadavecchia, who finished with 17 points, scored the next two baskets to put West up a by 3 points with 70 seconds to play. Hill then converted with 57 seconds remaining, only a solitary point separating the sides, West up 86-85. With 23 seconds remaining Eastern reclaimed possession again from a Breheny rebound after a missed shot by Spadavecchia. Bruce found Hill with seconds remaining as he spun to face the basket to launch the shot but Spadavecchia’s defensive pressure knocked the ball from Hill’s hands, denying him the last gasp opportunity to hit the winner and enjoy a dream start to his senior coaching career.

After the game although disappointed with the loss Hill remarked,

“I was pleased that we got back into the game after being out of it for the first three quarters. We haven’t trained much together and I am sure we can improve on that result. The first game players in Jack Madgen, Mark Hautop and Lukass Blicavs aquitted themselves really well”

Courtesy of David Tonks, Eastern