Poor half costs Slammers

A poor first half by the Printsync South West Slammers cost them dearly against the Willetton Tigers, who claimed a 16-point win at the Willetton Basketball Centre on Thursday night.

The Slammers scored just 28 points across the first two quarters and trailed by 19 points at the main break, before fighting back after half-time to lose 91-75.

It looked as if the Slammers had come to play in the first term when they grabbed an early 10-6 lead, but Willetton would dominate the final six minutes of the first term and soon had control of the game.

Willetton captain Kyle Armour (18 points, nine assists) began to dominate the game for the Tigers and they went on a seven-point to nothing run near the end of the term to lead 23-15 at the first break.

Armour, Jay Bowie (30 points) and Damian Scott (17 points, six rebounds) began to put a lot of pressure on the Slammers’ defence, while Badou Diagne grabbed 12 rebounds, including 11 defensive, to control the other end of the court.

The Slammers struggled to hit their shots, with Michael Lay (15 points, five assists) once again doing his best to keep his side in the game.

By half-time Willetton led 47-28 and looked on their way to a comfortable victory.

Slammers import Justin Reynolds came out after the main break a new player, working hard to get his side back into the game, scoring 11 points as the Slammers fought back.

Reynolds would finish the game as the South West Slammers’ best player, grabbing an impressive double-double with 24 points and 13 rebounds.

Demetrius Robinson was also handy with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Clive Weeden continued to find his form with five points and five rebounds.

The Slammers won the final term 25-22 to put an exclamation mark on a positive second half.

It was the Slammers’ three-point shooting which let them down, with the team hitting just three all game from 13 shots, while they turned the ball over 14 times, twice that of Willetton.

The Slammers did win the rebound count 43-34 and improved their shooting percentage on recent weeks in a much-improved performance.