Lithgow Workies Lazers' rollercoaster season has come to a sad end following a disappointing 84-81 Spalding Waratah League Division One Men's Basketball loss to the Queanbeyan Yowies in Queanbeyan. It was also the final game for Lazers captain Adam Marjoram, who has announced his retirement.
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The game was a microcosm of the Lazers' season: starting well, stuttering with the loss of key players, recovering to give themselves a chance, before ultimately falling just short.
The final round started with the Lazers needing to win and hoping for losses to both Bankstown and Shoalhaven for them to sneak into the play-offs. They knew their fate before the tip-off though, with Bankstown downing Sutherland earlier in the day to claim fourth spot for themselves.
Lithgow's starting five of Michael Johnson, Darreon Tolliver, Michael Cox, Marjoram and Fletcher Swift, appeared unfazed by the news, and scored the first seven points before extending their lead to 20-7 after six-and-a-half minutes. The first quarter ended with the Lazers seemingly in command at 25-14.
The Lazers' bench players, Matt Hughes, Hayden Cox, Mitchell Brain and Austyn Lincoln, helped their side maintain a double-digit margin for much of the second period, and they held their largest lead of the game at fourteen, 42-28, with three-and a-half minutes left. A time-out for the home team changed the momentum, and the Yowies finished strongly with an 11-0 run to trail only 42-39 at the main break.
Queanbeyan hit the front for the first time, 49-48, midway through the third stanza. The Lazers restored the gap to three to lead 61-58 entering the last quarter, but lost Matt Hughes with five fouls in the process.
The lead swapped hands four times early in the final period but the Lazers looked like they might hang on when they went out to 75-70 with five minutes left. Lithgow's Fletcher Swift also fouled out at that point, throwing the visitors off-kilter.
The Yowies pounced, forcing several turnovers from the Lazers, and the local crowd rode them home. A Michael Johnson three-point attempt with two seconds left would likely have sent it to overtime, but the ball hit the ring and bounced away to give Queanbeyan the win, 84-81.
Lithgow's free-throw shooting, a thorn in the side all season, had again let them down, as they missed well over ten attempts in this game.
Top point scorers for the Yowies were Samuel Burton and Joshua Hathaway with 17, and Aaron Gorman on 13.
Overall, the Lazers' 2019 season had positives and negatives.
Pleasingly for coach David Swift and assistant David Lincoln, the younger players mainly competed well when given the opportunity, while the team finished with the highest points total (1575) in their pool.
Offsetting this was the fact that they also had the second-highest points against (1568), behind only last-placed Dubbo. Lithgow also finished best of the Western area teams, having a winning season with a 10-8 record, while Wagga, Orange and Dubbo only managed eight wins between them.
Other events that put the Lazers' campaign off track at various times were long term injuries to Fletcher Swift and Matt Hughes, trouble with one of the original American imports both on and off the court which resulted in his departure, and the devastating loss of number one supporter, Rae Swift.
The Lazers' wish to thank the Lithgow Mercury for the space afforded them each week in both the online and paper editions.
The Lithgow Basketball Association and especially the Lithgow Lazers Senior Men's team also wish outgoing captain Adam Marjoram all the best for the future and thank him for his supreme efforts over the last several years.
Result: Queanbeyan Yowies 84 def Lithgow Lazers 81 (D Tolliver 18, F Swift 16, M Cox 14, M Johnson 14, A Marjoram 10, H Cox 5, M Brain 2, M Hughes 2).
Pool A Final Standings: Canberra 14 wins, 4 losses, Sutherland 14-4, Illawarra 13-5, Bankstown 11-7, Shoalhaven 11-7, Lithgow 10-8, Queanbeyan 9-9, Wagga 5-13, Orange 2-16, Dubbo 1-17.
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