The Maitland Mustangs had six players in double points in their 112-93 win against the Northern Bears in Sydney on Saturday night.
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After struggling with accuracy last week in their 82-80 loss to the Canberra Gunners, the Mustangs shot at 54 per cent from the floor highlighted by Jay Cole's 14 points at 100 per cent coming off the bench.
Will Cranstown-Lown led scoring with 20 points at 50 per cent, James Hunter shot 12 points at 71.43 and Daniel Millburn 15 at 66.67.
Christian Little shot 16 points at 40 and Billy Parson shot 18 points at 50 per cent in a double-double performance which also included 10 rebounds.
It was just the response Luke Boyle would have been looking for after the Mustangs dropped both games in last weekend's road trip to Canberra.
After being beaten 121-99 by a red-hot Centre of Excellence last week, Maitland did a similar job on the Bears in a high-scoring shootout which was neck and neck until Mustangs won the final quarter 37-22 to blow out their lead and highlight their fitness.
The Mustangs remain in second spot on the ladder behind Canberra.
They have a double-header this weekend, hosting on Saturday the 11th placed Sutherland Sharks who beat them in last year's NBL 1 East men's grand final. On Sunday they host the Illawarra Hawks, who are 14th with just two wins for the season.
Poor first half costs Maitland against Bears
A poor start blew any chance the Maitland Mustangs had against the high-flying Northern Bears on Saturday.
The Mustangs outscored the second placed Bears by one point in the second half after they trailed 43-15 at the main break.
The Bears have dropped just one game this season, losing to the unbeaten Albury-Wodonga Bandits.
Sydney Hunter shot 18 points and had eight rebounds, Shakera Reilly had 13-8 and Natsumi Kohama shot 11 points.
The superb second-half response is many way symptomatic of the Mustangs results this season as they have shown in patches they can match the best in the competition, but cannot produce a full 40-minute effort.
The Mustangs deserve to be a lot higher than their present 12th, with a five win, 11 loss record. Finals are now outside their reach, but the talent is there and can be built on and a strong finish to the season will place them well to take bigger steps next year.
Maitland have the sixth-placed Sharks on Saturday and the Hawks, who are ninth, on Sunday.
Michael Hartshorn
Since starting in 1985 at the then Melbourne Herald, journalism has taken me around Australia from Victoria, to the Northern Territory, Cairns in Queensland and now Port Stephens. After all those years there is still something special about informing and connecting with readers.
Since starting in 1985 at the then Melbourne Herald, journalism has taken me around Australia from Victoria, to the Northern Territory, Cairns in Queensland and now Port Stephens. After all those years there is still something special about informing and connecting with readers.
