“You’ve got to be at your best for games like this.”
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Although Bathurst Goldminers coach Andrew Osborn knows his side enters this weekend’s Waratah Youth League men’s division two clash against Hornsby brimming with confidence, he says that can’t transform into cockiness against a side like the Spiders.
Not when there’s so little between the two sides.
The Goldminers are ninth and the Spiders 10th as it stands and although the two sides are yet to face-off in 2018 they have a history of playing out absolute thrillers.
Take last year’s encounter for example.
The Goldminers won that clash, at Bathurst Indoor Sports Stadium, 63-62, but it took Orange’s Kobe Mansell hitting three free throws in the dying seconds to secure that win.
With his side trailing 62-60 and nothing left on the clock Mansell was fouled as he tried to drain a buzzer-beating match-winner from beyond the arc.
Although he made no mistake from the charity stripe, it made for some nervy moments for the Miners.
Moments that Osborn doesn’t want to go through again.
“Hornsby, for a long time, have been a strong association. When we played them at home last year we only managed to get up in the last couple of seconds,” he said.
“You can’t take a team like them lightly. You’ve got to be at your best for games like this.
“Coming off a win gives the guys a lot of confidence. They’re in high spirits and they’ll be feeling good about this game.”
That confidence comes from last weekend’s 125-62 hammering of the Central Coast Waves, in which the Drake University-bound Matt Gray dropped an incredible 50 points from centre – 12 of those coming from beyond the arc.
Will Cranstown-Lown was prodigious in that game too, finishing with 25 points while Anai Mathang (18), Nathan Germach (14) and Mansell (10) all cracked double digits as well.
Granted scoring won’t be as simple against the Spiders considering they’ve conceded more than 400 points less than the Waves, and 39 less than the Goldminers for that matter.
A win could push the Miners as high as seventh on the ladder as well, which would be huge considering the season is almost halfway done now.
They could drop as low as 11th with a loss though, if other results fall the wrong way too.
The Goldminers are expected to field a full strength team for the match at home on Saturday at 6pm, with Gray a week away from his move to the US.
