Lions Tame the Bearcats

Lions tame Bearcats to open NBL1 season
Liam Phillips

CENTRAL District Basketball Club is off to a terrific start to its NBL1 Central season after its defence rose to the occasion to beat West Adelaide 83-76.
The Bearcats only had one quarter where they scored at least 20 points, with Lion Magok Manyang holding West Adelaide import Earnest Ross to 21 points from 22 field goal attempts in a great showing.
Manyang also chipped in with 11 points on only three field goal attempts, going two-from-three from deep and converting five-from-eight free throws, but the heavy lifting on the offensive end was done by Lual Diing.
Diing, who spent the summer training with the Adelaide 36ers, racked up 27 points while going 9/23 from the field and 7/10 from the free throw line, and also grabbed 15 rebounds in a game-winning performance.
Coach Matt Atkins said the result was no surprise, but he was pleased with the way his defence turned up.
“We expect to win every week, but you just don’t know when it’s week one,” he said.
“The defensive end is where we won that game – if you keep a team under 80 points, you’re probably going to win.
“We definitely left some points out there – I think we easily could’ve scored 100, but building chemistry on offence takes time and I feel good about the things we do well.”
Atkins was also complementary of the performances from Manyang and Diing, and also gave a mention to Kalani Sapwell.
“Lual can score from anywhere, and that’s what makes him so hard to stop,” he said.
“He can hit threes, and get to the rim, and every night he’s probably the best athlete on the floor.
“Magok guarded their American import right off the bat and did a really good job – he still scored 21 points, but a lot of them were late and hard-earned.
“Kalani Sapwell also played just about the entire last quarter – he was able to get both feet in the paint with his penetration which was something we struggled with in the first three quarters, and I’m the kind of coach who doesn’t change things unless it’s broken.”
It was a rougher showing for the women’s side, going down 32-96 against West Adelaide.
The game was over by quarter time as the Bearcats opened the game with an incredible 30-2 frame, and although the Lions lifted in the middle section of the game, Sky Langenbrinck (25 points on 11/14 shooting) and Jennie Rintala (23 points on 7/10) got whatever they wanted.
The Bearcat pressure was intense, racking up 30 turnovers enabling West Adelaide to get up 32 more field goal attempts than the Lions, who will have plenty of work to do going forward.