Kestrels came through a tough test on the road on Sunday afternoon as they escaped Cobham with a 100-87 victory over the Cobras, to move them to 16-0 in NBL Division 2.
Elliot Dadds continued his fine form as he poured in 30 points, including 4 triples from beyond the arc, Russ Gariepy added 22 whilst Isa Brandon also had 21 points to power the Kestrels offensively.
Kestrels opened the game the better of the two sides as they got up 12-4 early on, punctuated by an Isa Brandon poster dunk.
Cobham hit back though as they trimmed the Kestrels lead behind new signing Nedas Cholevinskas, albeit that was short lived as Elliot Dadds continued to score in the paint for TSK. The visitors 25-16 to the good after the first quarter.
The sides traded score for long spells of the second quarter, with Cobham's guard duo of Cholevinskas and Parkinson doing the damage for the hosts whilst Russ Gariepy and Ash Briggs provided the impact for the Kestrels. Kestrels threatened to take control of the game just before the break but the home side rallied to cut the arrears leaving TSK 50-43 to the good at the half time interval.
Isa Brandon got the second half underway for TSK with Matt Hughes also getting in on the act as he converted on an and-1, however that the hosts replied through Oli Stanley who scored 6 early points in the half. Kestrels would be successful on a number of trips to the foul line as they managed to continue to put pressure on the paint and would eventually take a 76-65 advantage into the final 10 minutes.
Despite a positive start to the final quarter Kestrels were unable to put the Cobras out of sight, as they continued to tick the scoreboard through Stanley and Cholevinskas. Cobham would cut the gap to just 8 points late in the game but a 13 point quarter from captain Elliot Dadds helped the visitors to close the game out down the stretch, 100-87 TSK.
Kestrels Assistant Coach Jack O'Keeffe gave his thoughts on the performance, "I am really pleased with the result of course, however we were not at our best this afternoon and the guys know that we will need to be better as the business end of the season rolls round. That said, we had some standout contributions, in particular from Elliot Dadds who was immense for us on both ends and Ash Briggs was back to his best offensively. Russ and Isa also gave us timely scores when we needed them and helped us to regain control of the game down the stretch. The guys are looking forward to what will be a challenging run in to close the regular season and we hope to put on a positive performance back on our home floor next weekend."
This weekend is a senior double header at the Solent Sports Complex, as the WNBL Division 1 squad welcome Loughborough Riders before the Men's team play host to Endeavour Ipswich Basketball, you can secure your tickets for both games now!
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