The Central Coast Crusaders play host to the Newcastle Hawks in one of the most anticipated basketball matchups of the season this Saturday, May 13.
The Mother’s Day weekend pink round sponsored by Breast Cancer Network Australia will see a bitter regional rivalry play out at Breakers Indoor Sports stadium at Terrigal.
Tipping things off at 5pm, the women’s squad will sport pink socks in this round 9 clash against the third placed Hawks.
They will be coming into the game after holding their own in a tough loss at home to top-seeded Centre of Excellence squad from Canberra on Sunday, May 7, in which they managed to cut down a 22-point deficit to 9 in the final quarter despite missing one of the league’s youngest and brightest Sara Matthews.
Matthews went down earlier last week with a leg injury and is not expected to return for this weekend’s home game, but Head Coach Mikko von Lueders remains confident in the squad’s abilities.
“We went up against the league’s best (last) Sunday and the ladies proved that they can swing with the best of them,” von Lueders said.
“Sara’s firepower will obviously be missed this weekend but I’m feeling very positive about our chances.”
The men tip off at 7pm in a matchup that Coasties have been waiting for all year as fan favorite Tom Akamarmoi returns to Breakers for the first time since 2021, but this time in a Hawks Jersey.
A member of multiple Youth League Championship squads and the Senior Men’s squad that brought home the banner in 2019, Akamarmoi was set to return to the Crusaders after taking a year off but has now found himself a new home in Newcastle after disagreements with the coaching staff earlier this year.
Head of representative basketball at the Central Coast and Tom’s brother Killi Akamarmoi said this was the matchup everyone’s been waiting for all year.
“The boys are always pumped to go up against Newcastle and now with the added element of facing a former teammate and friend in Tom, the ante has been upped,” he said.
“I also know that Tom is eager to see how he goes against the boys especially with his knowledge of our system and our players
“Either way I’m eager to see how this one plays out.”
The men come into this one with fresh legs after last weekend’s matchup against the Comets in Sydney was cancelled.
The Hawks sit two spots ahead of the Crusaders on the table with just one win separating them.
Both the men’s and women’s Crusaders squads go into this mid-season milestone just a few spots shy of the top eight and as the season reaches its latter stages both teams will need to push themselves if they want to see post-season basketball.
Stefan Kataric