The Mavericks shot out of the blocks with their highest scoring quarter of the season at 32 points, giving themselves a 13 point buffer at the first break. Shane Breheny opened the scoring when he banked in a three pointer, he went on to score 9 in the first term at 100 per cent efficiency. Haydn Barns also tallied 9, including one from behind the arc. He also pulled in the Mavs only offensive rebound to the Lions 9 thanks to Christopher Clausen with 5, who also high scored for them with 7. Curtis Scipio showed his flair for the game as he put away 10 points and had an astounding 8 assists in the first quarter, his alley-oop to a leaping Barns embodying the high flying intensity of their opening quarter.

Eastern Coach Will Smith registered to play during the week and returned to the court to alleviate the absence of several players including Nick Heim and Sbroiavacca. After the fast start he commented “we felt pretty good, we got up 14 in the first quarter and then it was a question of how hard do I ride our starters? Give them a breather and give our bench some run”.

The tide turned in the second term as the Lions had a huge 37 point quarter, outscoring the Mavs by 18 points. They drew level at 41 all with 5 minutes remaining as Central’s Matthew Atkins drained consecutive three-pointers.

Stuart Breheny warmed up as he scored the mavericks next 4 baskets, the two teams traded the lead 5 times in the following 3 minutes but his efforts weren’t enough to stop the flow as 4 more Lions including Miller, Jordan, Centernera and Clausen each added 5 points.

Atkins, who had been fairly cold in the first quarter, made his third from down town to close out the term with 11 points and hand the Lions a 5 point lead.

In a lower scoring third quarter the Lions managed to stretch their lead by another 3 points. The Mavericks high foul count and inability to stop the offensive rebounds had sent the Lions to the free throw line for 19 attempts, they had missed only 2 by three quarter time. Despite having made more field goals and at a higher efficiency, the Mavericks trailed by 8 at the final break.

The final quarter was an intense nail biter, Eastern rose to the challenge and hit the court with an 11-0 run. Now playing coach, Will Smith, had got his eye in and drilled consecutive baskets from three point land, the first tied Eastern up with the Lions and the second had them back in front.

After another basket to the indispensable Scipio, the Mavs found themselves nursing a 5 point lead as Centrals coach Scott Whitmore called a timeout. In the next 3 minutes the Lions doubled the Mavericks 6 points and it was Smiths turn to bring his players into the timeout huddle down by 1 point.

After Centrals Luke Frost made 1 out of 2 at the line, Shane Breheny levelled the score 88 all. Clausen made a basket followed by one to Stuart Breheny, it was then Atkins who had the Lions in the lead again with under a minute to play.

The crowd reached fever pitch as Shane Breheny was fouled in the act and made 1 from 2 at the line and the Lions headed into the offensive. After a miss and an offensive rebound they had a second shot to stretch the lead, when that bounced off the rim and fell into a mass of hands, the referee called jump-ball and possession went to the Mavericks with 10 seconds left in the game.

Eastern took a timeout to plan the winning shot, and Scipio delivered, putting the Mavs in front by a point they found themselves 7 seconds away from a maiden win for 2013. The team faced utter devastation as Kyle Miller threw up the last shot, it sailed through the hoop with less than a tenth of a second on the game clock and the Mavericks watched another brilliant game slip through their fingers.

Coach Smith had nothing but praise for the team’s performance, saying “It was a bit of a rollercoaster game, we felt pretty good early, we knew they were going to come back though. I said to the guys after the game, last year and even early this year when we got down by 7 or 8 points it became 15 or 16 points because we drop our heads, we lose confidence and we throw our structure out the window. But tonight we dug our heels in, played harder and stepped up. I was really proud of the effort we put in and never giving up”.

Eastern Mavericks 93 (Scipio 26, St Breheny 20, Sh Breheny 17, Barns 12, Smith 11) defeated by Central District Lions 94 (Atkins 21, Clausen 19, Centernera, Miller 15).

This weekend the Mavericks host the South Adelaide Panthers. The women will meet at 6:30pm followed by the senior men at 8:15 at the Mt Barker Recreation Centre.

Stats Webcast

By Lachlan Eggers