BASKETBALL: It's not often Yowies coach Garry Ball decides to use his seat, preferring to pace along the sideline, but he would have been on the edge of his theoretical seat in his side's six-point win over Liverpool on Saturday.
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The Queanbeyan Basketball Stadium was packed, they wanted a show and that's exactly what they got.
Confidence flowing from their 33-point belting over the Rams, Queanbeyan put the pressure on the Spartans early, making the most of missed opportunities by the visitors to lead by eight points at quarter time.
Defence continued to be the Yowies strength in the second- excellent communication during a full-court press made it close to impossible for Liverpool to make it past halfway.
It was a tough, physical game with a high foul count and tempers were tested.
The Spartans found their second wind in the dying stages of the first half, trailing by seven at the major break, but looking to have the momentum.
Their good form continued in the third, two consecutive three-pointers from the visitors' Blake Smith and sloppy defence from the home side opened the game right up.
Coach Ball called a timeout to reinforce the issues discussed at halftime and how to combat them and the boys snapped into action.
Yowies top scorer Talor Goodall (21 points) found space inside and turned his players inside out.
He was supported by forward Sam Burton (14 points) who made his presence felt as soon as he stepped onto the court.
A few debatable calls from the umpires had Yowies centre and leader Jeff Dowdell (15 points) riled up and the team as a whole shaken and on edge.
Queanbeyan went into the final quarter up by just a single point and it was definitely anyone's game.
It was basket for basket in the final term, until things got a little out of hand, Jono Miller (11 points) was fouled out early and a soft technical foul put Dowdell out of the game soon before the buzzer.
Cue Sammy Burton, who's defensive rebound arguably lead to the Yowies victory.
Burton was fouled after the rebound which sent him to the line, he sunk one foul shot, but the momentum was with Queanbeyan.
High intensity and a quality defensive game forced the Yowies back into the game, up 81 to 73 with five minutes on the clock.
But Queanbeyan were never going to cruise to an easy victory, quality shooting gave Liverpool a point lead with 49 seconds to go and the crowd were willing the home side to victory.
Combined efforts from Matt Ball (14 points), Mitch Rodgers and once again Burton sealed the deal.
The Yowies finished with a 92-86 win and slide up to fourth on the Waratah League ladder.
The Spartans were coming off a win against second placed Lithgow Lazers, so Coach Ball said his team's efforts to get the win was no easy feat.
"To come away with the win was a real confidence booster," he said.
"One of the good things was that we played through it all and had that mental toughness to keep going when things didn't go our way."
But Ball said the Yowies will face once again one of their bigger challenges when they tackle top ranked Wagga Heat at home on Sunday.
"I want to go into games with a winning attitude because the Spartans have beaten some higher ranked teams, but it's never going to be easy [against Wagga]," he said.
"Every single win we have is so important- we should have home court advantage, but we have to come physically and mentally prepared.
"It's going to be a tough one and it'll test our mental capacity, but we'll just have to weather the storm."