Sean Armstrong, pictured playing against Cranbourne last week, was in season-best form on Saturday. 84215 Picture: JARROD POTTER
By JARROD POTTER
A LAST quarter lashing aside, Pakenham held third-placed Melton to account in their Big V division two clash on Saturday night.
The Warriors led at half-time 44-43, but some lapses in concentration allowed Melton to skate out to a seven-point lead at the final change before the pain started.
Melton and Pakenham traded three-pointers before the home side hit their third and fourth successful shots from outside the perimeter to take out a 95-79 win.
“It was until the last quarter as per usual,” Stapley said. “They lit it up – they took it from us.
“We were up at half time and we played good solid defence and they hit their shots when it mattered and that’s what it came down to.
“There’s not much more we could do – we were right in it and had a good offensive score, and we usually don’t score that high, but pure and simple they beat us in the last quarter.”
Despite the last half blowout in what was otherwise a pretty close match, Stapley said Melton’s choice to switch to zone defence in the first half was a sign of Pakenham’s offensive might.
“Their coach had to switch to a zone to help bail them out and get them back into the game,” Stapley said.
“Normally if they play a zone against us, we’d hit some big threes, but we just couldn’t seem to hit the open guys.”
“We had some silly fouls coming up and we got a tech foul in the third quarter which didn’t help the situation.”
The Warriors tall trio starred – Sean Armstrong ripped any shot that came his way, hitting 22 points and claiming 11 rebounds in a best on court performance, Daniel Jeavons (14 points and 11 rebounds) had another impressive double-double and Bill Winder (14 points) accumulated scores with great success.
“Sean played well and was a particular standout,” Stapley said. “Hit some good shots, made the right plays, got great rebounds, took the ball on, and had an all round good game and couldn’t be more happy with the way he’s playing.
“Bill and Jeavo – they played their normal game and get the job done night in night out.”
Pakenham has a tough task ahead for their final match of the season this Saturday night – facing second placed Craigieburn.
Tipoff is at 6pm.
