Slammers fall short in round one

The Printsync South West Slammers men’s side had a horror start to the season when the Kalamunda Eastern Suns thumped them by 26 points at the Ray Owen Sports Centre on Sunday.

After a competitive first half, the Slammers fell away after the main break, as Suns stars Kevin Davis (18 points, 11 rebounds) and Logan Viskovich (15 points, seven rebounds) led the home side to a 103-77 win.

The Slammers’ shot execution let them down, with the team shooting at just 34 per cent, while stars Michael Lay, Travis Durnin, Demetrius Robinson, Justin Reynolds and Matt Leary all shot at less than 40 per cent accuracy.

Lay (10 points) was the Slammers’ best player up to half-time, working well with some of his new teammates to have the visitors down just 44-42.

But after the half-time break the Slammers fell away and struggled to keep up with the home side, who hit nine more three-pointers for the game and won the rebound count 55-48 in a dominant display.

Clive Weeden (10 points, seven rebounds) had a great game at the power forward position before he was fouled out early in the last term, while Reynolds showed signs of having an impact with 10 points and six rebounds.

Robinson struggled on debut for the Slammers, hitting just two field goals from eight attempts, but did lead the team in assists with five.

Leary showed promise with a trifecta of three-pointers and Sam Sopolinski came off the bench to have an impact, finishing with 11 points and three rebounds.

But Viskovich, Davis, Kerrod Horn (14 points) and Billy Grey (13 points) all scored more than any Slammer, with the visitors unable to stop the Suns’ spread of scorers.

The Slammers’ women’s side also fell away after half-time, conceding a nine-point lead after two quarters to lose by the same margin.

It was a different Slammers outfit in the final two quarters, with the team scoring just 27 points as they were over-run by the Suns who won 93-84.

Suns captain Jorjah Smith had an outstanding game, scoring 21 points and grabbing five rebounds, while Alexandra Ciabattoni (20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists) and Jewel Williams (21 points) were also influential.

Slammers import Charlotte van Kleef made an impression on debut, grabbing a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Tayah Burrows came off the bench to score a team-high 19 points.

Courtney Bayliss (15 points, six rebounds), Kate Fielding (12 points, five assists) and Georgia Denehey (12 points, six rebounds) were all handy, but fell away in the second half.

Cian Parsons showed promise for the Slammers with five rebounds and four points.

But much like the men’s team, the Slammers women’s side shot poorly, hitting just 28 of their 77 attempts to go at 36 per cent, while the Suns shot at 46 per cent.

It was not all bad news for the Slammers though, with the side grabbing more rebounds (48-45) and dishing off more assists (21-20) than their opponents.