The Maitland Mustangs seven-game winning streak came to an end with a disciplined Hills Hornets led by US imports Ishmael Sanders and Christopher Bryant running out 101-86 winners at Maitland Federation Centre on Saturday night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
In a disappointing night for the Mustangs, the women's team lost as well going down 72-56 to the Hornets.
Mustangs men's coach Luke Boyle said defensive lapses cost Maitland at crucial times.
Boyle said the loss was a timely reminder that any lapse in concentration or complacency will prove costly in the NBL 1 East.
"Our defensive transition was not very good, our help defence was not very good and it cost us at crucial times," Boyle said.
The Hornets stole the march on the Mustangs winning the first quarter 24-18 and then dominated in the second to lead 58-40 at the break after leading by as much as 25 points.
"We would work hard and get the break back to six, but we'd have a breakdown defensively and the lead would stretch out again," Boyle said.
"We couldn't seem to break their run. They did a good job, they changed it up and went to a zone on us and I kind of feel we went just a bit too tentative.
"We didn't execute offensively, we didn't go back to one-out but we didn't get it to the right people."
Boyle said he was proud of his team's fighting spirit, particularly in the third quarter when they cut Hills' lead to seven points, but lapses against cost them in the final quarter.
"I can fault the boys around their grit as they got it out to 25 and we got it down to six. There is a never say give up attitude among the fellas and no matter how far that lead goes out, they've always got the ability to wind it back.
"I love the effort from the guys, but it felt like we weren't locked it for 40 minutes of the game, we were locked it for parts of it."
Sanders led the scoring for Hills with 29 and Bryant shot 27, while Matthew Gray shot 15 and Will Cranstown-Lown and Billy Parsons both scored 13 and Daniel Millburn 11.
The Mustangs have a double header next weekend. They host Penrith on Saturday night and then are away to Inner-West Bulls on Sunday afternoon.
Mustangs lose middle-of-table clash
The Mustangs women shooting accuracy deserted them in a 72-56 loss to Hills on Saturday.
Maitland shot at just 29 per cent compared with 40.3 per cent by the Hornets.
Natsumi Kohama was the only exception landing 21 points to be the only Mustang player in double figures.
Sydney Hunter pulled in 13 rebounds, but could manage only 4 points from 13 field goal attempts in a rare off night offensively.
Maitland will look to bounce back next weekend hosting 14th placed Penrirth on Saturday and away to the 15th placed Inner-West Bulls on Sunday.
Michael Hartshorn
Since starting in 1985 at the then Melbourne Herald, journalism has taken me around Australia from Victoria, to the Northern Territory, Cairns in Queensland and now Port Stephens. After all those years there is still something special about informing and connecting with readers.
Since starting in 1985 at the then Melbourne Herald, journalism has taken me around Australia from Victoria, to the Northern Territory, Cairns in Queensland and now Port Stephens. After all those years there is still something special about informing and connecting with readers.
