Anthony Kimble scored 17 points for Melton in the 93-78 loss to Southern Peninsula Sharks on Saturday night. Photo: Supplied
Melton’s men’s division 1 Big V basketball season is over after a 93-78 loss to the Southern Peninsula Sharks on Saturday.
Despite having to make the two-hour trip to Dromana stadium as the lower-ranked team after the home-and-away season, the Thoroughbreds appeared to be on the verge of an upset when they led by four points at three-quarter time.
But 34 points from the Sharks in the run home was too much for the Thoroughbreds to match.
Melton coach Mick Downie was disappointed his side’s premiership challenge was over.
“We were shattered,” he said.
“We obviously thought we had a really good chance of winning, but things didn’t go our way in the last quarter.
“I think if you look across the stats sheet, we led almost every category except for shooting percentage.
“We broke away from our game plan a little bit in the first quarter and put up 14 three-point attempts.
“We weren’t getting beaten badly, but I didn’t think it was the way to get the win. In hindsight, perhaps if we’d got on a bit of a streak, it could have been.”
Jeff Crowe was the Thoroughbreds’ leading point scorer with 19, while Anthony Kimble had 17.
The Sharks’ Shannan Davey was the star, though, finishing the match with 30 points.
Despite the loss, Downie was still taking some positives from the club’s first season in division 1.
“As a club we’re still very proud of what the guys achieved after coming from second division into first division and the way we went about it all season,” he said.
“This is the eighth time I’ve been through this [losing in finals] in my coaching career, and it doesn’t get any easier.
“This one is even harder to take because I still believe we were the most feared team to play in the competition. It was just that, as coach and players, we didn’t get our act together.”
In other Big V finals, Keilor’s division 2 men’s campaign is in danger of coming to an end after going down to Casey by 26 points on Saturday night.
The Thunder now trails 1-0 with two road games to come in the best-of-three series.
Keilor was left to rue a tough shooting night, with the home side struggling to make the most of its chances from the field.
The Thunder shot above 40 per cent in only one quarter and made only one of its 20 three-point attempts.
