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Gallery | Blasters rocket into CBL grand final, women’s outfit suffers semi-final loss

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Breaking ankles: Seymour Blasters’ Tayha Watkins with a crossover move. Photo by Wayne Herring

Seymour Blasters booked a ticket into another Country Basketball League North East grand final following a sublime performance over Wallan Panthers at the weekend.

The Blasters kept their premiership defence hopes alive with a barnstorming 87-68 win at the recently re-named Gerry O’Rourke Stadium.

Star guard Tyler Best registered another classy effort as he led the points with 25 and teammate Jordan Hockley was crucial at both ends of the court with 18 points and some big turnovers.

The win at the weekend pencils in a rematch of last year’s CBL North East grand final, with the Blasters to take on the Benalla Breakers at Albury’s Lauren Jackson Stadium.

One of the powerhouse clubs in recent CBL history, the Blasters are eyeing off their 10th piece of men’s silverware in 14 years.

One man who has been along for the ride every step of the way is head coach Craig Hockley.

The Blasters’ mentor said there was some aspect of relief that his undefeated outfit was able to book a ticket in the big dance.

“Yeah there’s definitely some (relief) there,” Hockley said.

“There’s always that added pressure I guess when you haven’t lost a game so it was a bit of relief to get the win.

“Winning games in the season mean nothing if you don’t make it through to a grand final. We understand there’s still a lot of work to get done.”

Running the floor: Seymour Blasters’ Jarrod Hockley. Photo by Wayne Herring

How the Blasters were able to chalk up a grand final appearance was again thanks to some reliable contributors.

Best had a game-high 25 points, followed closely by Hockley who contributed 18 points of his own.

Thomas O’Connor put in a solid performance, scoring 15 points in the game.

The Blasters led from start to finish and despite a fightback from the Panthers mid-way through the contest, were able to skip away to a 19-point win.

“We started off really well but they fought back and brought the heat,” Hockley said.

“Halfway through the third we were able to break away, but it was still tight until the end and we only led by eight to 10 points until the final few minutes.

“Tyler and Thomas both really finished the game off for us. Jordan hit some big baskets when they came back at us, some really big threes and he also helped cause some turnovers at the other end.

“Young Harry Stones also came off the bench and had to play more as a tall and he filled that role beautifully.”

Benalla stands in the way of another memorable premiership for Hockley and his charges, with the Breakers ending the regular season with the second-best record.

“Height will be the issue for us, they’ve got their twin tower duo,” Hockley said.

“That’s going to make it hard for us, but we might be able to cause them trouble offensively with them having to match up on our smalls.

“We pride ourselves on our defence and we’ll try to take it up to them.”

Unfortunately, there won’t be two Seymour teams making the trek up the Hume Hwy with the women’s outfit suffering a loss to Albury Cougars.

The Blasters were unable to halt the scoring prowess of the Cougars’ Jade Cook (26 points) and suffered a 75-94 semi-final defeat.

In the first quarter, the Blasters were able to outscore Albury with a 20-19 effort.

But after the first buzzer it was all Albury.

The Cougars raced away in a match-defining second term and piled on 20-10.

The Blasters tried to claw back in the third with a 23-25 quarter effort but a 30-22 fourth term was the final nail in the coffin on what has been a superb campaign from the Blasters.

Tayha Watkins and Jasmine Hunter each scored 14 points for the match and were the standout performers for the Blasters.

Eyes up: Seymour Blasters’ Tyler Best. Photo by Wayne Herring
Searching: Seymour Blasters’ Sienna Sapiano Photo by Wayne Herring
In the zone: Seymour Blasters’ Georgia Knight. Photo by Wayne Herring
Talking things out: Seymour Blasters’ men's side timeout. Photo by Wayne Herring