AS far as hot favourites go, Melton Thoroughbreds can’t get any hotter heading into their Big V men’s division 2 grand final against Keilor.
The Thoroughbreds hammered Keysborough by 31 points on Saturday night to wrap up a 2-0 sweep of its semi-final series and advance to the decider.
The Breds are on a 16-game winning streak and beat Keilor by 18 and 35 points in the two head-to-head meetings in the home-and-away season.Saturday’s 83-52 hiding of Keysborough was in front of a packed house at Melton Indoor Recreation Centre with about 350 fans trying to find any possible vantage point to cheer on the team.
“We’ve had our scares, but the players keep working for each other,” Melton coach Grant Spencer said.
“I think the boys are comfortable in the way we’re going to be able to play Keilor. I’ve coached there; I know, and have coached, all their players. The boys will be prepared and we’re very confident of going to Keilor and getting a result.”
Keilor will host game one of the best-of-three series this Saturday with Melton to host game two and three, if required, back-to-back on August 24-25. The short road trip for Melton’s fans will mean every chance of an atmosphere close to that of home court.
“We had a bus of 50 go to Keysborough for game one of the semi-final and had more fans at the game than they did,” Spencer said.
“I have no doubt we’ll have 100 to 150 travelling fans … there won’t be a spare seat in the house.”
Melton had six players in double-figure points on Saturday night, led by Jeff Crowe with 17. After Crowe put up 36 in game one of the semi-finals, game two reverted back to a more even spread of the scoring load.
“It was important for us to maintain that play-off intensity,” Spencer said. “The guys are well aware of what happened in game one of the semis where we were up by 17 and Keysborough were able to come back … a mini-shock. The guys need to stay together as a group, communicating that no one individual will win a game for us. It’s all about working together as a team.”
Keilor’s division 2 women also made the grand final and have been given main-event status on Saturday, with the men’s grand final tipping off as the curtain raiser from 6.30pm at Keilor Basketball Stadium.
