Townsville McDonald’s Crocodiles back-up centre Ben Allen will look to celebrate his 50th game in the NBL with another solid performance against the 36ers in Adelaide this Sunday night.
The 211cm big man was outstanding in his time on the court on Sunday, pulling down a team-high eight rebounds and adding an assist and a block as he superbly backed up starting centre Luke Schenscher in the team’s 89-71 win.
No one was more impressed with Allen’s effort than Crocs Head Coach Paul Woolpert, who was quick to sing the 25-year-old’s praises in the post game press conference.
"That was Ben’s best game since he has been a Crocodile in my opinion. We didn’t miss a beat when he came on for Luke and he made some really good plays that might not be obvious to the fans," said Woolpert.
"He rebounded well, got after the ball, showed some great physicality and I think he proved a lot to himself and his teammates tonight. In the last five or six weeks Ben has been a lot more physical than earlier in his career and that’s what he needs to keep doing to be an effective centre in this league."
Schenscher was also quick to praise his deputy performance after the team’s second win over the 36ers in as many weeks.
"For him to come out and do what he did out there was just great, he did exactly what he needed to do. He was out there banging bodies, making great plays and coming up with big rebounds," said Schenscher.
Allen was pleased with his increased output over the weekend and wants to stay consistent for the rest of the year as the Crocs strive to keep their place in the top four and feature in the post season.
"It came down to me being more aggressive, I think I gave away a couple of good fouls. I’ve stepped my defence up and I was able to rebound the ball much better so I’m happy I could contribute more to the team. I’ve got the best big men in the league to train with in Luke, and I really enjoyed the physical match-ups with the big guys from Adelaide" said Allen.
"You always want to build off a good game and the best thing to do is to string them together, get two, three, four in a row. Consistency has been a big focal point of mine this season and it would be great to have another solid game this Sunday."
Allen and his teammates will want to take care of business on the road against the last-placed 36ers to build momentum and form heading into next weekend’s crucial games against Cairns and the Gold Coast.
The Victorian product will look to produce another hard-working effort against Daniel Johnson, Wade Helliwell and the other Adelaide bigs as the Crocs look for third win over the ‘Sixers this season on Sunday.
The Crocs next game is against the Adelaide 36ers, tipping off at 6:00pm this Sunday 5 February at Adelaide Arena. A delayed broadcast will be shown on One later on that night at 10:40pm.
For live stats of the game visit
The Crocs next home game is their 20th season Birthday Bash Game night against the Cairns Taipans on Friday February 17, with tip-off at 7:30pm at ‘The Swamp’.
Tickets are now on sale for the clash at the Entertainment Centre, call 4771 4000 weekdays 9am - 4:30pm or anytime online at
www.tecc.net.auwww.nbl.com.au or follow the Crocs on Facebook at www.facebook/GoCrocNation
