The La Trobe University Eagles men extended their winning streak to 10 by ending top of the ladder, Coburg's undefeated run of 17 on the weekend. The matchup between first and second was given match of the round status by the Big V and no one left disappointed.

Coburg entered the game with everything its favour including victories from 2 earlier encounters between the teams earlier this season. However LTU were keen to show that they are legit contenders for this years flag and the only way they were going to do that was by downing the ladder leaders.

Coburg have been reknowned all season for hustle, a fast break offence and a stingy zone defence. Led by MVP favourite, Bryan Colson the Giants team has cast all challengers aside with relative ease so far this season. On the other hand, LTU boasts the leagues toughest inside combo and a cool, calm and collected half court game. The Eagles have been led on the scoresheet by reigning MVP Tim Sturrock and deadeye Peter Leimonitis. However the additions of Andrew Oliver and Davin Sgargetta have bolstered the teams inside outside stocks and the continual development of Neville Chivhanganye, who is easily the leagues most intimidating centre, have shown that the Eagles are definitely not a 2 man team. To further test the depth of the Eagles, Tim Sturrock didn't suit up for the game.

Both teams came out hard, displaying the passion and determination expected of the best 2 teams in the competition. The refs came out hard too and by the end of the first quarter had blown an amazing 24 fouls including 15 against LTU. That didn't phase the Eagle though and they stuck with the intense Giants and went into quarter time trailing 23-21.

The Giants struggled to contain the LTU bigs and switched to their much talked about zone during the first quarter and they continued with this strategy in the second. What they didn't count on was LTU unleashing their arsenal of 3 point weapons against it. The leagues best 3 point shooter, Leimonitis was deadly as were Sgargetta, Paul DiMarzio and Dean Sutton. By the end of the 2nd quarter, LTU had exploded for 32 points against the Giants 17.

The LTU 3 point barrage continued in the 3rd quarter only to be countered by a more aggressive Giants team that started going to the hole and therefore going to the line. The quarter was neck and neck all quarter and Coburg edged LTU 21-20 to trail 73-61 at 3 quarter time.

Coburg came out all guns blazing for the final stanza and tightened the screws on their zone. LTU worked hard and kept their concentration despite some dry patches in their own scoring, to repel the Coburg charge. The Giants continual aggression allowed them to put LTU in the penalty early and were able to get to the line frequently. LTU dug deep and kept their composure and were able to come out victorious 88-83.

Many touted this game to be a preview of the Grand Final however LTU never get ahead of themselves and now they have 3 weeks of bug games against arch-nemisis Warragul in the final game of the season next week and the ensuing first round of the playoffs over the following 2 weeks.

<a href=round_info.cgi?a=MATCH&fixture=69281633&c=1-913-0-51327-0&pool=1>MATCH STATISTICS</a>

Photo's from the game can be found in the photo section on the website