Hopes for post-season play are all but gone for the Central Coast Crusaders men’s squad, but a new challenge has presented itself as relegation looms.
The addition of two new teams into this year’s basketball competition saw a modification to the relegation rule and instead of one, the bottom two teams move back down to the Waratah State league.
The men’s squad sits tied with Penrith for the second-last spot on the ladder and with only five games left in the season, time is running out.
The situation for the women is a lot less dire but still far from ideal as they failed to gain any momentum after the impossible feat of defeating the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles a few weeks ago.
The women sit in 11th place, just three wins shy of the 8th seed and a spot in the playoffs, making winning the last string of games critical.
The Crusaders travel to Castle Hill to take on the Hornets this Saturday, July 1.
The men face their own impossible feat, not having defeated the Hornets in Castle Hill since 2019, while the women should have an easy victory on the road against a second-last placed Hornets side.
Coming off a double header on the road that produced two heartbreaking final moment losses last weekend the Crusaders found themselves on the wrong end of a buzzer beater going down 81-82 to rivals Maitland on Saturday, June 24, followed by a missed go-ahead attempt going down 85-83 to the Comets on Sunday, June 25.
The last time the women’s squads faced off; the Crusaders put in an emphatic performance dominating the Hornets 76-61 at home on the back of a 29-16 double-double from Sara Matthews.
The Crusaders will have to make do this Saturday without Matthews as it looks like her season is over due to an ACL tear, but ball movement and tight defence remain the aims of the game.
The Crusaders forced 19 turnovers in their last match-up and tacked on 20 assists and, with mid-season addition Rachel Maenpaa facilitating, the Crusaders shouldn’t miss a beat.
The men’s squad will have to dig deep, especially with last weekend’s crushing losses.
Coach Noman Shoaib will have to find alternate methods of getting the team involved as Luke Cassidy and Ajay Lawton’s heroic efforts are just not enough to get the team over the line week in week out.
It’s possible that the Crusaders’ hole will become deeper after this weekend as their second-last placed counterpart Penrith have what should be an easy game at home against the Hawks.
Stefan Kataric