An understrength Lazers team travelled to Queanbeyan with a number of players absent including star player Matur Malauch.
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The team was soundly beaten 109-91. A high score like this indicates that little defence was played by both teams.
“If you score that many points between two teams, then obviously no one is really playing defence,” Lithgow Lazers coach Richard Marjoram said.
The Yowies were at full strength, turning out 12 players on the night. They were a big physical team and too strong for the Lazers around the basket.
“The match was a rugged game, a very physical game and had a number of unsportsmanlike fouls,” Marjoram said.
The Lazers struggled in defence and became frustrated, with good looks at the basket in offence but unfortunately not finding the bottom of the net.
At different times during the game the Yowies led by 20 points plus, but Marjoram said the Lazers had a real dig in the fourth quarter trying to close the gap.
“We just never really turned up on the day,” he said.
They put on full court pressure to shut down the Yowies ball carries.
“This worked and brought the Lazers back into the game,” Marjoram said.
They were stealing the ball from the opposition and scoring good baskets to narrow the gap to six points but some poor discipline cost the team dearly and the Yowies claimed control of the game once more.
There were some good individual performances with Terrence Durham scoring 34 points and Jaidyn Goodwin 21.
Kurt Northey and Adam Marjoram tried hard in the rebounding department and Kobe Hunter had his best all round game of the season.
“Missing Matur most likely played a major factor in the game, because hypothetically he can shut down 20 points in defence and score 20 in offence,” Marjoram said.
Lazers have the long weekend off, but in the mean time Marjoram said it would be back to the drawing board at training and working harder to prepare for their next game.
The Lazers still sit in third place on the leader board but Marjoram said that every player in the team has to remain focused on offence and defence at training.
“The next couple weeks on the road will be tough, because we are playing Sydney teams and some of the players are struggling to be motivated on the road,” he said.
The next game will be away against the Sutherland Sharks on the Saturday, June 15 at 4pm.
The Senior Lazer men wish the junior teams all the best on the long weekend at NSW Country Championships.
