By ADEM SARICAOGLU
THE Werribee Devils are fifth in men’s State Championship Big V basketball after just managing to hold on for a win over the Melbourne Tigers on Saturday night.
The Devils set out to impress their local fans at Werribee Sport and Fitness Centre and would have left them feeling pretty good after a dominant first quarter that put them eight points up at the first change.
Werribee then went into halftime up 43-36, but their dominance on the court was only short-lived.
The Tigers wouldn’t go away and stayed in the hunt throughout a tensely close second half.
In both the third and fourth quarters Melbourne outscored Werribee, but couldn’t overcome the deficit the Devils established early in the game.
Werribee eventually got up 81-77 with Jordan Hughes playing a starring role, providing 21 points and 12 total rebounds on the night.
Young gun Josh Oswald also proved himself more than handy, scoring 13 points with six rebounds of his own.
Earlier in the night Werribee’s women kept their unblemished Division Two record intact with a 56-50 win over the Mornington Breakers.
As their male counterparts would soon do later in the night, the Devils allowed the visitors back into the game late after a strong start that had Werribee up 19-10 at the first change.
The margin was 12 at three-quarter time before the Devils were outscored 20-14 in the final term, however coach Lloyd Klaman insists Werribee was always in the box seat.
“I think they scored about five points in the last 15 or 20 seconds to make it look a little closer than it was,” he said.
The real sour note of the night was Emma Coyne’s ankle injury.
The gun point guard went down in the third quarter, forcing Klaman to re-shuffle his five significantly.
“We don’t know yet how serious it is, but that was key and a few players really stepped up to take (Coyne’s) place, just because she plays such a big role for us,” Klaman explained.
“Morgan Owen (10 points) was fantastic again, she had to play a few more minutes than normal but she just did a great job again, and Lisa Troyahn (18) was her usual self.”
Youngster Alexandra Moss also won praise for her efforts.
“She had to play some extra minutes too – but she was outstanding,” Klaman said.
