The Townsville McDonald’s Crocodiles got their season back on track against the Adelaide 36ers at ‘The Swamp’ tonight, strolling home to an 89-71 win on the back of a dominant second half display.
Down by five at the main break, the Crocs came to life in the second half, outscoring the struggling 36ers 46-23 with Luke Schenscher (22 points, 7 rebounds) and Eddie Gill (16 points, 3 assists) leading the way for the home team.
The Crocs comfortable 18-point victory was the result the club needed after a disappointing loss to the Taipans in Cairns on Friday night, and will see them remain in the NBL’s top four.
Crocs Head Coach Paul Woolpert was impressed with his side’s second half comeback but said his team needs to address their habit of starting game slowly.
"I wasn’t really happy with our start, we weren’t good enough on rebounds or on defence, and it was great that we addressed those issues and performed so well in the second half," said Woolpert.
"If we want to become one of the elite teams in this league then we have to be switched on for the entire 40 minutes, so while it’s great to get the win tonight we really need to have that effort from the very beginning."
After a solid performance in their narrow loss to the Taipans earlier this weekend, Schenscher played his best game of the year to date and his presence in the low post continually troubled Adelaide.
"It’s great to get back on track against the 36ers, we had a tough loss on Friday night and to be able to get this win in front of our home crowd," said Schenscher.
"It’s been tough coming back from surgery but I’m feeling better every game and I still think I have lots of areas to improve on as the season progresses. I really knew that I had to be patient and keep doing the work and I think I still have a long way to go to get back to my best."
Luke Schenscher was on song early for the Crocs, scoring the Crocs first six points of the game and he did a great job utilising his height advantage in his matchup with 36ers forward Diamon Simpson.
Adelaide were also impressive down the offensive end, shooting 80% from the field for the first five minutes of the quarter and when Stephen Weigh hit his second triple of the quarter the visitors took a 13-8 lead midway through the first period.
The scoring began to dry up for the Crocs and three consecutive long bombs from Adelaide saw their lead balloon to 10 points before both Cedar brothers opened their scoring accounts to reduce the lead to 27-21 at the first break.
Townsville got off to a strong start in the second with Ben Allen and Elvin Mims chiming and they cut the lead back to two before a three-point-play from Adelaide’s Mitch Creek restored the ‘Sixers six point buffer.
Adelaide continued to fire on offence and they pushed their lead out to double digits before the in-form Schenscher answered with back to back baskets to again tighten the gap.
Schesncher’s impressive 12-point effort in the first half was cancelled out by Mitch Creek’s 15 point haul for the visitors and they headed to the main break with a 48-43 advantage.
The talented centre added four more to his total to start the second half and Peter Crawford’s first three of the night closed the gap to only one point early in the third.
Gill came to life in the third quarter and his intensity down both ends of the floor helped the Crocs rally to tie the game at 56. Mims then pulled down yet another offensive rebound and scored an easy two to hand the home team the lead.
Things were getting heated late in the third with both teams handed unsportsmanlike fouls on consecutive plays before the Crocs went on a 9-0 run to complete an outstanding third quarter performance.
Their 22-10 effort in the championship quarter sent ‘The Swamp’ crowd wild as they turned a five point half time deficit into a nine point lead, all in the space of ten minutes.
The Cedar brother were at again early in the fourth with the local products both nailing threes to give their team a 14-point buffer, the largest lead of the night.
Adelaide had no answers for the Crocs at either end of the floor as they rode a wave of momentum and produced some great defence in one of their best halves of basketball this year.
The Crocs will again tackle the 36ers next week, this time in Adelaide, next Sunday February 12 as they look to further cement their spot in the top four.
The Crocs next home game is at ‘The Swamp’ against the Cairns Taipans, Friday February 17 with tip off at 7:30pm.
Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased from the Townsville Entertainment Centre by calling 4771 4000 weekdays 9am - 4:30pm or anytime online at
www.tecc.net.au
