The Maitland Mustangs surrendered a game-winning lead to lose at home to the Hornsby Spiders on Saturday night.
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The Mustangs started confidently with their starting five and bench all making valuable contributions to establish an eight-point lead midway through the third-quarter.
But things went haywire from there as their defensive pressure and rebounding work dropped off and team offence gave way to one-up efforts.
“At the middle of the third we were 52-44, from then to the end of the third they went on a 17-4 run to finish off 61-56,” a disappointed Mustangs coach Terrance Rone said after the game.
“We went from a winning situation based on everyone working together to everyone wanting to win on their own.
“It was 63-58, we got a tech and a free throw. We missed the two shots and we got the ball back and had a two-on-one situation and had a turn over.
“That was the turning point, momentum went their way from there.”
Rone said based on the team’s first half he was still confident they can make the play-offs.
“We’ve got to continue to work hard and get back look at the film and see how we can address our rebounding, team togetherness,” he said.
“It’s a process we’ve still got 15 or 16 more games to go and just get in there and build from there.”
