Supercats thank Canberra crowd

Andrew Mathieson
GEELONG Supercats skipper Jarrod Leonard has credited a hostile Canberra crowd for his team’s overtime win to reach the east conference grand final in South East Australia Basketball League.
The visitors won the major semi-final 104-102 after scores were locked at 95-all at the end of regular time.
A foul on Supercat Jason Reard-on with six seconds remaining put him to the line for two free throws before the guard sealed the match.
Leonard said the stirring victory was made sweeter after walking deep into enemy territory.
“The crowd was pretty boisterous and had given us a hard time all night,” he said.
“They really were very hostile, so to get that win was probably not so much back-to-the-wall stuff but it shows what we can do when we have a crack at them.”
Leonard described the “fantastic” win as one of the best he’d experienced with the club since making his debut in 1994 during Geelong’s days in the NBL.
“We were in a little bit of a win-win situation,” he said.
“Nobody probably expected us to win up there, going up to Canberra.
“If we had of lost in overtime everybody would have thought we did okay.”
Supercats coach Mark Leader will now scout tomorrow night’s grand final qualifier between the Gunners and cross-town rival Australian Institute of Sport.
The players will have an extra training session tomorrow afternoon after maintaining their regular schedule during the week.
Leonard said the team was confident of securing back-to-back titles at the Arena next weekend.