After a great start to the Big V Championship season Shepparton Gators faced their biggest test yet in round three.
On Saturday night, April 20, the Gators travelled to take on reigning champion and unbeaten first-placed McKinnon.
After putting up a fight in the season opener against one of the other top teams, Wyndham, Shepparton defeated two struggling teams away from home to get the newly-promoted side up to fourth spot.
The formidable McKinnon offered the opportunity for Shepparton to test its might against the best team in the league.
After being down 10 points with three minutes to go, a miraculous comeback fell just short and Shepparton was ultimately defeated by McKinnon 92-95.
It was Shepparton’s American big man Devin Thomas who kicked off the late fight, answering a McKinnon three with one of his own before getting fouled on another shot from behind the arc.
Thomas made two out of his three free throws, missing the last one.
Luckily, Kiwi sharpshooter Josh Kooiman had somehow dashed under the rim unguarded to pick up the loose ball and cash in a wide-open layup.
Just like that, it was a one-possession game.
Shepparton continued to force misses and turnovers.
Thomas was fouled on a break-away and sent to the line once more.
He missed both, but defensive workhorse Tom Frame made up for it.
Frame intercepted an errant McKinnon pass, racing into open court to score, the deficit cut to one point with one minute to go.
McKinnon tried to respond with a three, but it came up short, before a give and go between Thomas and Dylan Wilkie.
Thomas hit Wilkie in stride driving to the rim and the left-handed scoop shot was good.
The Gators had the lead.
Unfortunately, it was short-lived with McKinnon immediately responding with a deep three from its star Steve Wooten, who had a game-high 37 points.
Down two now with about 30 seconds to go, Kooiman tried to take a lead from a three, but it came up short.
Shepparton opted to play the foul game to lengthen the final few moments of the game.
The McKinnon player went one out of two from the line.
Shepparton scrambled to get the ball up the court, Canadian import Jayden Coke sprinting towards the other end down three with a few seconds to go.
Coke pulled up from deep looking to tie the game with his defender draped all over him, but his shot was off.
Coke felt he was fouled and should have been given an opportunity to level the score from the free throw line.
Regardless, the game was over.
Gators head coach Josh Waight said he didn’t have a great angle to determine if Coke was fouled, but he was happy to live and die by the result of the shot.
“I couldn’t fault their effort,” Waight said.
“We put ourselves in a position to win, they hit some tough shots, but we fought to stay in the game and keep it close to the very end.
“It’s good for us to practice those end-of-game situations, what type of shots we get, and our execution was good, they just didn’t go in when it mattered most.”
After failing to put up points efficiently in his first three games, Thomas arrived against McKinnon, tallying a season high 24 points with four triples.
“He was excellent,” Waight said.
“He did a great job of playing with fouls after picking some up early and that allowed him to be in the court at the end of the game and make big plays.”
Waight also singled out Frame for his defensive effort, Coke for his consistency and Kooiman.
Top performers
Devin Thomas: 24 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, 4-7 from three
Jayden Coke: 22 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 1 block
Josh Kooiman: 16 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 2-4 from three
He said Kooiman had one of his best games of the season, cutting a “cool, calm and collected” figure at the point guard position.
Shepparton wanted to do more than just go the distance, but even Rocky lost his first fight against Creed.
With three games away from home in a row, Waight said playing in front of the Shepparton crowd this weekend would be a big boost for the squad.
“Sometimes at these games it’s a very quiet crowd,” he said.
“Our players are high energy and they love playing in front of a big crowd and these games we sort of have to create our own energy.
“There are some other good crowds, but ours is definitely one of the best in the league.”
With a record of two wins and two losses, Shepparton drops to eighth heading into round four.
Shepparton will face Bellarine, which sits fourth at two and three, having played one game less than Shepparton, on Saturday night, April 27, at 7pm at Shepparton Sports Stadium.
It will then be on the road once more on Sunday, taking on fifth place Pakenham at 3pm.
Waight said although ultimately it lost to McKinnon, the result showed it could beat the best in the league.
“We see lots of room for improvement,” Waight said.
“But if you had’ve told me this is where we’d be after four games, we definitely would have taken it.”