By ADEM SARICAOGLU
THE Altona Gators found out the hard way just how difficult the dreaded Mildura road trip can be in Division One Big V basketball on Saturday night.
Their men’s and women’s teams, both coached by Randy Shanklin, left Melbourne early Saturday morning for the evening fixtures, but did not return with any victories.
The first of the two games saw Altona’s women go down by 15 points after trailing by just three at halftime.
The Heat killed the Gators off in the third quarter, outscoring the visitors 27-13.
The men then went down in very similar fashion, ultimately losing by 23 after scores were level at the main interval.
Shanklin was left scratching his head on Sunday when asked about what went wrong after halftime in both games.
“I’m not quite really sure why that or how that happened,” Shanklin said.
“I’ve noticed in a couple of other games with other teams that have played here, a similar thing happened, so it may just be that they may turn up their intensity.
“I just don’t think we came out as focused in the second half.”
Despite those two disappointing third quarters on the night, Shanklin remained upbeat.
“I think both teams played a pretty good first half,” Shanklin said.
“The crowd got themselves involved and probably helped Mildura play a little bit better in the second half and helped them over the line. But I thought we battled well.
“It’s one of the toughest places to play. Just like Warrnambool is, when you travel to the country, they’ve got large crowds and they’re good teams and they usually have imports,” he said.
“So it’s always going to be tough but it’s just one game, and it’s not a disaster.”
In the men’s game, Mildura’s Calvin Murray provided a stunning display in the key.
Murray scored a whopping 42 points on the night, giving Altona little chance to keep up in the second half.
“There were four or five guys that we played on him,” Shanklin said. “He had an incredible game but I’ve got to tip my hat to him.
“I thought my guys did a good job of guarding him. He had 18 (points) at halftime and then in the second half they got it in transition with a lot of turnovers or missed shots.
“He got a lot of lay-ups and he only missed three shots.”
This Saturday the Gators hit the road again to take on Whittlesea.
