Owusu looks to finals
St Laurence Geelong Supercats guard Nick Owusu played one of the games of his career as the Supercats fell 81-91 to Bendigo on the eve of finals.
In a see-sawing affair with both teams’ finals destiny secured, Owusu had 21 points, nine rebounds, nine assists and six steals in a standout performance.
The Supercats will travel to Dandenong next Saturday night for the first final and a chance to win straight through to the Eastern Conference grand final.
Owusu said there was still high priority on Saturday night’s match at The Arena with a win a perfect lead-up into a finals campaign.
“We valued that game, we put a lot of effort into it and really wanted to win,” he said.
“Especially because potentially it could’ve helped us out getting first place and a home final but we’ve been committed to staying positive about everything.”
“I put a lot of effort into that. We know we’re still going to make finals in a sense but we definitely wanted to win it.”
The Supercats got the jump and led 24-19 at quarter time before the Braves brought it back to 40-40 at the half.
Bendigo went to work in the third quarter before opening up a three point lead at the final break and going on to win by 10, the Supercats playing a full court press in the dying moments with an obvious eye to next week.
“We were hoping to come out with more intensity than we did,” Owusu said.
“There were times when we were really up and about but consistent effort probably escaped us a little bit. I, personally, and as a team, were hoping to bring more energy than that.”
Saturday night marked the 50 match milestones for Nathan Friend and Lachlan Headlam, two former rookie listed players.
Theron Wilson also had 21 points for the Supercats while David Mecanovic had 12 points and eight rebounds. Deilvez Yearby got off the leash for Bendigo, scoring a game-high 29 points.
Owusu said there was a buzz heading to another finals campaign.
“It’s nice to make a couple of shots. As a team we’ve hit some good form and we know what we’re capable of. We’re real excited about our chances in finals.”
Pretty much every year I’ve played for the Supercats we’ve played finals so we’ve obviously got a history of success and winning. This is why you play basketball and we know what it takes to win.”
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