By ADEM SARICAOGLU
THE Altona Gators are out of the finals race in Division One Big V basketball after a final quarter fade-out led to an 11-point loss at home on Sunday.
The Gators were a small chance of sneaking into the final four of the Terrill Division prior to Sunday’s showdown with the McKinnon Cougars, but needed to be faultless for the remainder of the season to do so.
After an even first half the Cougars went into the halftime break just three points ahead of Altona before extending that buffer to five by the final change.
But in the final term the Gators couldn’t keep in touch with the visitors who shot away to win the quarter 22-12 to escape 83-72 winners.
Randy Shanklin’s men had no answer for McKinnon’s Kale Harrison who shot a whopping 31 points with seven rebounds for the day, while team mate Marcus Timmons came up with 20 points of his own.
Joey Mausar (20 points), John Wilkinson (19) and Shaun Phelan (17) all had a good day for Altona but the trio had little support from their team mates around the net.
Earlier in the day Altona’s women didn’t fare much better, sinking to a crushing 31-73 defeat to the Camberwell Dragons.
Both teams will play their final games of the season this Sunday on the road against Sunbury.
