A SPECTACULAR shot got the party started for
Melton and its fans on Saturday night as the Thoroughbreds swept Keilor
Thunder 2-0 in the Big V Basketball division 2 grand final series.
Jeff Crowe’s bomb made the difference 17 points with 5.39
remaining, ending a brief Keilor comeback and allowing the Breds to
enjoy the premiership feeling as the clock counted down.
Melton won 75-60 to take the premiership and finish the season on an 18-game winning streak.
Thoroughbreds premiership: Picture gallery
Thoroughbreds premiership: Match report
Thoroughbreds premiership: The club
Thoroughbreds premiership: The players
Thoroughbreds premiership: The coach
After being led for much of game one in the grand final series last week, Saturday’s win lacked the drama of a close contest.
There was some tension among the 400-odd fans at Melton Indoor
Recreation Centre as Keilor, as far down as 25 points in the third
quarter, rallied in the final term.
But the comeback never got closer than 13, with Crowe’s big three
followed soon after with a shotclock-beating triple that had the fans in
hysterics. Crowe, finals MVP, scored 15 points while Jordan Kirk led
the scoring with 17, seven of 10 from the field.
A scratchy opening was broken open by Melton’s transition down the
floor, with Maverick Clissold (nine points) getting clear on the fast
break and then following it up with a three-pointer as the Breds opened a
19-12 lead at quarter-time.
The second quarter belonged to Shane Moroney (eight points) as he
followed a lay-up with a steal and lay-up on back-to-back plays as
Melton blew the gap out to 31-16.
Tempers flared with seven seconds left in the half, with Michael
McCallum getting a charging foul and players coming together for some
push and shove.
Allegations of a punch being thrown in a rebounding situation the
play prior were reprised among the melée, with Keilor’s Brad Courts
ejected for an apparent attempt to headbutt Melton’s Cameron McCallum.
Kirk had the Melton bench celebrating wildly the play after, as
his three-pointer beat the half-time buzzer and sent Melton to the
locker room up 46-27.
With tensions calmed by the half-time break, Melton went about
building its lead to as big as 58-33 before Keilor’s best period of the
match.
But the comeback was never on in front of the Melton home crowd,
with fans flooding the court at the final buzzer to watch their premiers
cut down the net string by string.
McCallum led rebounding with 13, while Keilor’s best were Andrew Freeman (17 points, 14 rebounds) and Brent Radoslovic (14 points).
