By Dion Stergiopoulos
The St George Saints Mens White team returned home last weekend after a three- game road trip to take on last seasons semi-finalist Hills Hornets.
This was a must win game for the Saints to keep them in touch for a finals berth.
In a major boost for the home side, leading scorer Jayden Tanevski returned for the Saints after being unavailable for the teams last outing against Hornsby.
The Hornets got off to a hot start from beyond the arc, with the Saints a step too slow on defence allowing for some wide-open looks.
Tanevski took it upon himself to help reduce the deficit with the Saints trailing by just seven points to end the first quarter (20-27).
The Hornets piled on the pressure on the Saints’ star players, with St George unable to get into a rhythm.
With their three-point shooting drying up throughout the second quarter, the Hornets looked to score inside to continue to pile on the pressure and extend their lead, taking a thirteen-point lead into the halftime break (39-52).
The second half was a similar story to the first, with the Hornets continuing to pile on the scoring from long range.
The Saints were unable to find an answer on either end of the floor and went into the final quarter down by 30 points (53-83), with the chances of a comeback looking very slim.
The Hornets kept their foot on the gas in the final quarter, in-order-to put the result beyond any reasonable doubt.
The Saints showed a lot of heart and didn’t give up and were able to win the quarter (27-20), unfortunately it was too little too late, with St George going down by twenty points (80-103).
Saints head coach George Aliferis said that while he was disappointed with the overall result, he was very happy with the team’s spirit.
“I was disappointed with our defensive intensity,” he said.
“Even though we are a young team (average age of 26), we cannot let any team put 100 points on us.”
“I was proud of our never give up attitude. We have a very difficult road trip this weekend to Canberra, we need to step up.”
Jayden Tanevski led the scoring for the Saints with 35 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists.
Key contributions from Yianni Trikilis (28 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist) and Kyle Roeger (3 points 10 rebounds and 5 assists).
St George hit the road once again this weekend when they take on Canberra Gunners Academy on Saturday 24 May.
Elsewhere, after a hard-fought win over Camden Valley Wildfire last week, the Saints Youth League Mens Red team hit the road once again to face off against Moss Vale Magic.
The Saints had only nine active players instead of the usual twelve-man rotation for the matchup against the Magic, the Saints knew it would take a big team effort to come away with the victory.
St George set the tone early with their intense defensive pressure, forcing 13 turnovers in the first quarter including nine steals and holding the Magic to just nine points at the end of the opening quarter (32-9).
The Magic found their shooting stroke at the start of the second quarter to try and cut into the already huge deficit, but the Saints maintained control and stormed out to a 25-point lead at half-time (55-30).
With the Saints in a commanding position to start the second half, they looked to put the game to bed, firing on all cylinders and dominating the boards (62reb to 34 reb for the game).
The Saints were rapid on the fast break, going on a 25-0 run to end the third (33-9 3rd quarter) to take a comfortable 88-39 lead going into the final term.
In the end the Saints overpowered the Magic, cruising to 117-61 victory to improve to a 7-1 record for the season.
Saints assistant coach Angelo Tsitsos was very happy with all aspects of the teams play as they continue to improve every week.
“We made a point heading into this matchup to set the tone early and take control of the game,” he said.”
“Our defensive pressure allowed us to get out into our transition offense and push the pace. The boys executed well as we continue to get better each game.”
Dylan Akosah (14 points 7/14 FG, 16 rebounds, 6 assists and 7 steals) and Jaxon Jon Frintzilas (17 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals) both finished with double-doubles and Tao Smith top scored (26 points 11/18 FG, 4/9 3FG, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals) to guide the saints to victory.
