The Roller Hawks have consolidated top spot on the NWBL ladder with comfortable victories against the last placed Adelaide Thunder.
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The Roller Hawks claimed a 100-35 victory on Saturday before backing up with a 89-34 win on Sunday.
Despite the enormous difference in Saturday’s scoreline, on Sunday coach Brendan Dowler pressed his team to minimise Adelaide’s scoring opportunities inside the paint, where the Thunder had scored 22 of their 35 points, knowing that such defensive lapses would be costly against their title rivals in finals action.
Captain Brett Stibners starred on Saturday night with 43 points (on 20 from 26 shooting), 12 assists and eight rebounds but echoed his coaches sentiments.
“We knew it was going to be a tough weekend to stay focussed but I think we achieved that,” Stibners said.
“We were just trying to start to build towards something.
“We play Brisbane in a few weeks which for us is a really important two games and then the finals are after that and Brisbane are going to be really tough, they should go close to winning this year.”
The win comes just days after Stibners, Michael Auprince and Luke Pople returned from Japan where they played with the Aussie Rollers in a warm up tournament in the lead up to the World Cup later this year.
Michael Auprince finished with 32 points and 15 rebounds while Shawn Russell chimed in with a double-double off the bench with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Stibners again shone in Sunday’s clash with 30 points, seven assists and six rebounds. Shawn Russell scored another double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds, but the Roller Hawks had contributors right across the score sheet with five players in double figures.
“Games like this it’s really good to run through different combinations and see if they work,” Stibners said.
“Everyone contributed. ‘Chopper’ (Ash James-Kennedy) played really well and so did little Nick (Scott).”
