Ellis proud of Senators fight; no excuses from Clarke for Suns

BETHANIE Stirling Senators coach Mike Ellis liked the fight showed by his team despite a loss to the Geraldton Buccaneers on Saturday night but Kalamunda Eastern Suns coach Michael Clarke was making no excuses for his side's effort on ANZAC Day.

The Senators made the trek to Geraldton to take on the Buccs on Saturday night on a five-match winning streak but in the end huge games from Matthew Adekponya and Maurice Barrow denied Stirling the win.

The Buccaneers came away with the 96-87 victory at Active West Stadium but Ellis wasn’t too disappointed in the result at a difficult venue and considering it wasn’t the easiest trip and that two of the home team's stars had monster nights.

"After a very good run of wins we travelled to a hostile venue in Geraldton. It is a great place to play with the atmosphere quite electric. We had a few trials and tribulations going into the game but I was pretty happy with the effort of our guys," Ellis said.

"Geraldton are a very tough team, in particular at home. It was nice to coach against Aaron Trahair, a guy I recruited to the Wildcats many years ago and had the pleasure of coaching. He has the boys playing some good ball.

"Barrow and Adekponya had very good games and were tough to stop. Cook as always is a handful and they play well as a team. We were just not able to match it with them for the entire game.

"There were times when we were in danger of getting blown out but to the boys credit they fought their way into a position to be 3 down with 50 seconds to go. Unfortunately, we were not able to finish off."

The Eastern Suns lost their eighth straight match to start the season going down to the Willetton Tigers on ANZAC Day, but up until Monday they had been competitive in most contests.

Kalamunda had been having no trouble putting points on the board either averaging 113.6 points a game in their first seven matches. They had gone close to a first win as well including only losing to the Giants by a point, but their ANZAC Day against Willetton was one to forget.

The Tigers piled on 147 points to hold the Suns to 66 and win by a mammoth 81.

Clarke was making no excuses for the performance from the Eastern Suns afterwards.

"Our performance was embarrassing and unacceptable. We were all terrible and did not come ready to play. We fell back into old habits and it resulted in a demoralising loss," Clarke said.

"Coming straight after a heartbreaking loss and, just when we were making some good progress, it presents a great test of our character whether we are able to dust ourselves off and get back on an upward trajectory."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Deprimo Photography




Comments

Comment Guidelines: The SportsTG Network is made up of players, families and passionate sports followers like you who have a strong opinion about sport. That's great - we want you to have your say and share your thoughts with the world. However, we have a few rules that you must follow to keep it fun for all. Please don't be rude, abusive, swear or vilify others. Apart from some pretty serious sport sanctions, we also can ban you and report you if things get out of hand. So play fair and have fun, and thanks for your contribution.

Download the GameDay App!

Stay up-to-date with your favourite teams and keep an eye on your rivals by accessing the latest match results, fixtures and stats via GameDay App.

GameDay Splash Screen
App Store Google Play