Despite containing two monster import talents and being seven points up in the third quarter, Orange Eagles couldn't maintain the rage and ran into foul trouble against Lithgow Lazers in Lithgow on Saturday night.
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Three Eagles fouled out in the 85-78 loss in the Spalding Waratah League Division 1 Men's clash, which coach Jamahl Zegzula conceded was the side's scrappiest game for the season.
However, he said the result was "better than expected", with a lot of the foul action part of the focus on stopping the Lazers' imports Drelan Tripplett and Michael Johnson.
The pair have both scored north of 30 points each this season, with Johnson hitting 37 last week, but were contained to 22 and 26 respectively by the Eagles' defence, which Zegzula said was mostly led by the clubs' juniors.
Close losses are as good as a win for us.
- Jamahl Zegzula
Better than expected, they had two imports which a lot was spoken about, produced points.
"We had juniors going up against guys nearly twice their age and holding their own," he said.
"Kobe [Mansell] matched up, Murray [Robotham], Clarry Annis-Brown all did really well."
Annis-Brown was one of the three Eagles to foul out, with skipper Mitch Selwood and Ben Gundry also racking up five as the Lazers posed a "physical challenge" to the side.
"We were unlucky with some of the fouls but we played the advantage and it was hard compared to a couple of our other games," Zegzula said.
Zegzula praised his players' efforts offensively as well, and said while he would have loved to walk away victorious, "close losses are as good as a win for us".
Mansell top-scored for the visitors with 20 points, while Selwood and Gundry had 19 and 17 respectively.
"We had a game plan to be competitive and were hoping to get between 10 and 15 points, late in the third we were up by five or seven but they hit two threes in a row and we ran into foul trouble," Zegzula said.
The side has a tough assignment this Saturday, making the trek to Sunderland to play the top-of-the-table Sharks.
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