Gators prove too strong for Suns

FOR the third time this season, the Altona Gators have proved too powerful for the Sherbrooke Suns in a very entertaining game at Monbulk.
The game was evenly balanced up to half time with Sherbrooke being 1 point up, but it was the Altona team that came out after half time and applied sustained pressure on the Suns and they eventually ran out 101-86 winners.
Sherbrooke’s chances were not helped with captain Marcello Calderon who had scored 10 points going down early in the second quarter with a hamstring injury. This appeared to upset their team balance somewhat and allowed Altona back into the game after Sherbrooke had skipped away to a handy lead early in the second quarter.
The Gators were simply too strong for the undermanned Suns in the second half, outscoring them 56 points to 40. Sherbrooke were not helped with poor foul shooting making 8 of 21 (38 per cent) compared to Altona’s 17 of 23 (74 per cent).
For the Suns, none battled harder than Aaron Littlepage who, in his best game for the Suns, had 13 points, 15 rebounds. He was supported by David Wilson with 14 points and Shannon Kendall with 11 points.
This weekend sees the Suns away to Keilor Thunder, which they must win to remain in the race for the finals.
It was a better result for the Division 2 women as they once again accounted for Mornington Breakers 80-52.
Sherbrooke came out strong right from the opening tip off and established a 17-point lead at the first break. The Breakers outscored the Suns in the second quarter by 1 point but that was their only moment of glory as the Suns skipped further ahead in the second half to record a fairly easy victory.
For Sherbrooke, Jessica Neuwirth and Sharlene Fraser combined time and again for easy scoring opportunities, Sharlene finishing with 22 points, 6 rebounds. Stephanie Kennett was also prominent with 19 pts, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and Tara Blair racked up 7 pts, 10 rebounds, 9 assists and 4 steals.
The women are also away this weekend taking on Darebin on Saturday night and McKinnon on Sunday.
Any chance the Youth League had of making finals was snuffed out by a superior, top of the table outfit in the Geelong Cats. After an even first quarter, Geelong applied pressure to the younger Suns to go in at half time up 55 to 34.
The third quarter saw more of the sustained Geelong pressure cause many Sherbrooke turnovers and by 3 quarter time the Cats had established an unbeatable 32 point lead. Defensively, the Suns had no answer to the superior Cats offence which almost scored at will especially with second chance efforts.
For Sherbrooke, none battled harder than Matt Cromarty and Jake Spruhan with 34 points, 13 rebounds and 15 points and 9 rebounds respectively.
This weekend, the Suns take on 3rd-placed Bulleen Boomers at Bulleen.