The South West Slammers returned to the winner's circle in controversial fashion after they beat the Perry Lakes Hawks 116-111 in an entertaining and perplexing finish on Friday night at the Eaton Recreation Centre. In a close game from start to finish, the visiting team were livid with no less than three controversial decisions late in the game they believe played a significant role in the outcome and denied the visitors a chance at winning a tough encounter away from home.

 

The game was battle of strategies and match ups between both coaches as each attempted to capitalize on perceived advantages over the other. The home team clearly had pace on its mind to counteract the size factor the Hawks possessed with Carlwell, Sellars and Purser, the latter playing significant parts of the game in the one spot. On the other side, the Hawks made their size count with inside touches the focal point and the passing touch of big man Carlwell out of the post an early highlight.

 

The first half was a close tussle between both teams and little separated the two combatants until a 10-0 run for the home side helped them to a 55-47 half time advantage. Statistically, Nichols registered 10 points, Easley 6 points while Royal Crouch had 16 points and 9 rebounds for the Slammers. The Hawks contributors included Purser 9 points, Ryan Smith with 10 points off the bench while import centre Carlwell tallied 9 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.

 

The return from the long break continued with the close theme as both teams struggled to pull away from the other. Slammers star Royal Crouch was near unstoppable, attacking the rim at will and converting on several occasions against his defensive opponents both off the dribble and on the perimeter. The Hawks on the other hand returned serve with multiple three-point plays on their offensive end with Dixon, Purser and Carlwell all proving a handful inside. Dixon in particular exploited his quick first step along with Carlwell’s ability to negate the help-side defense with his size to help himself to some easy lay-ups to keep the Hawks in the contest.

 

It was a 81-79 lead to the Perry Lakes Hawks entering the fourth quarter but a game that was a close contest throughout then walked the controversial tightrope as the referees missed a clear cut violation by Slammers guard Teny Puot with a little over 4 minutes remaining in the fourth. The referee error hit the Hawks hard eventuating in a four-point play for the home side as Puot was fouled on a made lay-up by Hawks guard Ben Dixon. Dixon then expressed his frustration to the referees about the earlier missed call, prompting a technical foul from the officials. Up until the play, the visitors had held a 100-96 advantage.

 

With 1:06 left in the game, the visitors again felt they had cause for grievance as with the Slammers holding a slender 111-107 lead and both teams in the bonus, a seemingly regulation contact foul call on Wade Hitchcock at centre court on Ryan Smith was greeted with disbelief when the referee instead assessed the foul on the Hawks guard- turning a chance to cut the lead to two instead to a five point lead for the home team as Hitchcock sunk one of two from the free throw line.

 

The final slap in the face for the visitors came as the Hawks again bemoaned another referee decision, this time a no call on guard Ben Purser who came crashing down mid court under pressure from Royal Crouch while pushing the ball in transition as Perry Lakes attempted to chase a four-point deficit in the last 30 seconds. Again, the subsequent result denied the visitors again a chance to bring the contest to a one-possession game as Tre Nichols converted from the charity stripe to increase the lead to six points.

 

While the visitors may have felt hard done by late in the game, they were also guilty of a couple of crucial defensive lapses, with renowned perimeter shooters Corey Easley and Wade Hitchcock left alone numerous times off the Slammers on-ball action. Both were good enough on several occasions to punish the Hawks defense, with Easley (18 points) in particular looking much better than his last few games on offense as his shots started to drop.

 

Tre Nichols, who was otherwise well held by the Hawks combination of Purser and Dixon for the first three quarters of the game, exploded in the final quarter with an array of baskets that aided the Slammers cause. The import guard finished the game with a triple double of 24 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists. But it was Crouch who was the man of the moment for the home team, finishing with 32 points (at 62%) and 14 rebounds to steer South West to a 116-111 victory.

 

The result moves the Slammers to 5-10 record while the Hawks fall below .500 on 8 wins, 9 losses for the season.

Article by Vlad Alava
Photo by Sebastian Komatsu (Sebpix)