EAGLES CRASH BACK TO EARTH WITH TOUGH LOSS
The LTU Eagles suffered the first hiccup in the 2006 finals campaign with a tough loss on the road to minor season premiers, Warragul Warriors, on Saturday night.
In a highly anticipated match up, the finals veterans gave the students a lesson in finals basketball. The Eagles went into the match full of confidence after their clinical demolition of Monash Uni the previous week. Sharp shooters Sturrock, Leimonitis and DiMarzio were in form, Big Ticket Nev's hands have grown into fully fledged buckets since being given the starting centre position and Do It All Dev has been, well, doing it all!
Unfortunately, the highly motivated Eagles were not ready for the extremely hostile crowd or the extremely difficult playing environment that accompanied it. After a tight first half that saw them rally twice from double digit deficits, the Eagles were happy to go into half time only 4 points down.
To that point it had been a very physical game and the boys were confident that the Warriors had thrown their best at the Eagles.
Enter the 2nd half and LTU came out ready to thrown down the gauntlet. Unfortunately someone switched the gauntlet with a champagne glass and it shattered into a million pieces. The next half of basketball left players and supporters of LTU gobsmacked.
They were manhandled, scragged, pushed, etc from baselin to baseline. That's fine, that's finals basketball. However when LTU went into the penalty at the 4 minute mark with the foul count 5-0 people were asking questions.
Warragul's court jester Mike Santo whipped the hometown crowd into a frenzy and revelled in his taunts to LTU players and supporters alike.
At the end of the day, the Eagles were beaten but thankfully have the advantage of the double chance and can make amends by winning through to the Grand Final this Saturday night against the Maccabi Warriors.
The match will be held at the Veneto Club, Bulleen Rd, Bulleen due to Darebin Stadium being made unavailable. Tip off will be 7pm.
BOX SCORE
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Did you attend the match? Let us know what you thought of the game on the
LTU FORUM
In a highly anticipated match up, the finals veterans gave the students a lesson in finals basketball. The Eagles went into the match full of confidence after their clinical demolition of Monash Uni the previous week. Sharp shooters Sturrock, Leimonitis and DiMarzio were in form, Big Ticket Nev's hands have grown into fully fledged buckets since being given the starting centre position and Do It All Dev has been, well, doing it all!
Unfortunately, the highly motivated Eagles were not ready for the extremely hostile crowd or the extremely difficult playing environment that accompanied it. After a tight first half that saw them rally twice from double digit deficits, the Eagles were happy to go into half time only 4 points down.
To that point it had been a very physical game and the boys were confident that the Warriors had thrown their best at the Eagles.
Enter the 2nd half and LTU came out ready to thrown down the gauntlet. Unfortunately someone switched the gauntlet with a champagne glass and it shattered into a million pieces. The next half of basketball left players and supporters of LTU gobsmacked.
They were manhandled, scragged, pushed, etc from baselin to baseline. That's fine, that's finals basketball. However when LTU went into the penalty at the 4 minute mark with the foul count 5-0 people were asking questions.
Warragul's court jester Mike Santo whipped the hometown crowd into a frenzy and revelled in his taunts to LTU players and supporters alike.
At the end of the day, the Eagles were beaten but thankfully have the advantage of the double chance and can make amends by winning through to the Grand Final this Saturday night against the Maccabi Warriors.
The match will be held at the Veneto Club, Bulleen Rd, Bulleen due to Darebin Stadium being made unavailable. Tip off will be 7pm.
BOX SCORE
BIG V MEDIA RELEASE
Did you attend the match? Let us know what you thought of the game on the
LTU FORUM
Last Modified on 09/08/2006 17:36
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