Keilor Thunder coach Liam Glascott has taken a more horses for courses approach over the past month in the Big V basketball men’s state championship.
The mix ‘n’ match line-ups seem to be working for the Thunder, who have won two of their past three matches to breathe life into their season.
The Thunder had a fairly even contribution in a 89-80 win over Corio Bay Stingrays on the road at the Geelong Basketball Netball Stadium on Saturday night.
“I’ve been changing the line-up the last few weeks to try and get a balance of who’s best suited to who we’re playing against on the court at the time,” Glascott said.
It was a competitive opening to the match, but Keilor struck the first blow to lead by six at quarter-time.
Corio Bay hit back, making a run late in the second period to have the game back on level terms by half-time.
Keilor unleashed possibly its best quarter of basketball for the year in the third, out-scoring the hosts 28-10 to lead by 18 going into the final quarter and blow the game open.
“We spoke about what we needed to do and that’s get stops in a row,” Glascott said.
“At one stage we got eight stops in a row, which resulted in us getting baskets down the other end.
“We also got lucky with the other team getting a couple of technical fouls with some of the issues they weren’t happy with and it resulted in the momentum going our way.”
Corio Bay never waved the white flag. The Stingrays had too much pride and too many offensive weapons to simply roll over.
For all their effort, the Rays never seriously threatened.
“They have five or six shooters in their team, so it makes it difficult to guard and they can make a run at any given time,” Glascott said.
The most pleasing aspect of the victory for Keilor was the form of point guard Jeff Crowe.
Crowe had a promising pre-season campaign, but made a slow start to the season proper, so his breaking out of the form slump over the past two weeks has been a welcome sight. He finished with a well-rounded 16 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals, following up from a 17-point, four-assist game the week before.
“He’s back to where he was pre-season before he unfortunately hurt himself on a holiday falling over in a swimming pool,” Glascott said.
“He just gives us that dynamic as a point guard who can score, pass the ball and set up our offence.”
Young forward B.J. Symons produced a dazzling game inside the paint. Symons finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds.
“He’s a kid that gets in the right spots, he had really good hands and finishes well around the rim,” Glascott said.
Import Jordan Coleman had another strong outing with 26 points and eight rebounds, while captain Charleston Long and Joel Bellman had an impact off the bench.
The league will go into recess over Queen’s Birthday weekend before Keilor plays a season-defining double header weekend on June 16 with games against Hume City in Broadmeadows and at home for Eltham.
