End of the first quarter. Sixers down 27-36.

For the Sixers: Rychart has 9, Maher and Farley still on 5 each. Cooper and Rees have 4. On the boards Holmes, Rychart and Forman have 2 each. Holmes has 4 assists; Maher has none(!).

For the Crocs, Rillie has 8, Rose 7, Calvary 6 and Moore 5.

Sixers down on the boards 6-11. Second quarter just starting.

Sixers still down 66-50 just before half-time. Farley fighting an almost lone-hand this quarter to have 17 (6/13 including 4/8 threes). Rychart still on 9, Maher has 8.

17-22 on the boards (Forman just had a turnover and then 2 defensive boards in quick succession).

For the Crocs, Rose has 16, Rillie has 15. Rose has 3 fouls (just subbed out for Newley). Rychart, Rees and Cooper all have 3 fouls before half-time.

It's now half-time: 53-66. Holmes has moved up to 6. Forman leading on the boards with 4. Everyone is shooting a decent clip (Holmes 2/6 though). The difference is probably coming from Crocs second-chance points: they've got 10 offensive rebounds.

Love how the audio feed starts working well when it's time for the ads. Zzz.

Something a bit unusual for the Sixers -- only two players have attempted three-pointers (Farley 4/8 and Maher 2/3). For the Crocs, six players have gone 8/20 from outside altogether.

Sixers back within 3: 71-74. Farley has 25, Rychart 13 and Maher 12.

(Meanwhile, the Tigers have finished strongly to beat the Taipans.)

Sixers now have the lead 75-74; Farley with 28, and still 19 minutes of game left. 7/11 from outside for Willie. Board count is now 23-24...

Rychart has 5 fouls. Williams comes on.


82-83. Farley 28, Maher 17. Rose is jacking up threes but has just missed a couple. Holmes attempts and misses. Sixers shooting 53% from outside.

Crocs: Rose 21, Rillie 18, Brown 16.

Sixers now running with Farley, Cooper, Holmes, Williams and Forman. Sixers up 90-89. Holmes has 12, Cooper 7, Forman 4 and Williams 2.

Holmes has 12, 7 and 7. Remind anyone of that triple-double topic we had a while back?

Sixers down by 1: 92-93. Holmes has 14 (5/11, 4/4 FT). The Crocs top three haven't added to their tallies.

Final quarter starts. 94-95. Rychart (5 fouls) and Rees (4 fouls) both on court (bit of a risk?). Rychart now has 16.

Forman misses a three. Calvary gets a dunk at the other end (11 points, 6 boards, 3 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks).

Forman out for Williams. Maher, Farley, Williams, Rychart and Rees on for the Sixers. Farley has 29. Subbed out for Ng.

Maher hits a three (20 points, 4 assists). Ng gets an O-board and makes the two. Sixers up 100-99 with 8 minutes to play.

COME ON SIXERS - This'll make 5 of 5 tips so far if we pull it off, along with my 12 point prediction I'll be looking sweet for that round one prize!! Wonder if they'll send it to Scotland?

Uh oh, down 107-110. Farley 32, Maher 22, Rychart 16. Cooper, Holmes and Rees have 4 fouls, Rychart has 5. Calvary on 4 for the Crocs.

Better hope this doesn't go into OT. Just under 4 minutes to go. Crocs: Rose 23, Calvary and Brown 20, Rillie 18.

Newley has 2 on 1/4 shooting; 2 boards and 2 turnovers.


I changed my tip to the Sixers, so they better come through! (Changed Tigers to Cairns, and I'm already regretting that!). Cooper is 3/10 FT, ouch.

109-112. Less than 2 minutes to go... Sixers offense drying up? Farley just got blocked by Calvary.

C'MON 6'ERS.........!!!!!!

never change your tips Isaac, you should know better than that!!!

Well, I do now!

111-112. 58 seconds left. Please don't go into overtime - I have to go into town in 5 minutes!

Same scoreline. 16 seconds left now. Holmes on 5 fouls now. Same with Calvary.

111-114. 14 seconds left. Damn!

Rychart and Cooper subbed out. Forman and Ng in (three point shooters?).

Maher misses the shot. All over. Sixers down 111-114.

Farley 32, Maher 22, Rychart 18, Holmes 16.
Holmes 7 assists, Williams 5, Maher 4.
On the boards: Rychart 9, Holmes 8, Cooper 6.
Cooper with 3 blocks.

Boards: 39-45.
We were more accurate (43/85 to their 40/84), but they had 24/31 FT to our woeful 13/23.

Crocs finished with 4 players in the twenties: Rose 23, Calvary 22, Rillie and Brown 20.

Townsville has a quality squad and a solid homecourt advantage so I'd say there's nothing to be ashamed of with the result.

Thoughts?

i think we lost by 3. The shit start cost us. How many three point shots were put up tonight! good to see willie get his point, foul trouble in dusty and rees is not good. At least we know we are in pretty good shape, should be a good game come wednesday night.

Bring on wednesday night!!! CANT wait to beat the crocs at our home court, with hopefully a decent crowd behing the boys!! :D Unlucky with the result tonight

Bitterly disappointed, more with the fact that I'm unlikely to win round one though. The second away game for the week with plenty of travel involved meant we were always up against it, good to see we're on track for another free flowing run and gun season. I think signs from round one have been pretty positive for the Sixers, when everyone fires together look out!!

How is Calvary stat.... line impressive debut!!!

What's the saying about dont worry about your 3pointers until you can hit your free throws again and again and ..........?

Just saw Holmes shot on Channel 9 news and i thought that he got it off in time. Must admit only saw it once but it still looked good.

Did anyone else see it?

From the live scorecard, I assumed that Maher missed the final attempt and that was it. Apparently Forman got the rebound, passed it to Holmes who was coming in from the three-point line for the rebound. Holmes took a dribble back outside and threw up the shot.

It went in and the Sixers were excited. The referee decided, however, that it was after the buzzer and the shot was disallowed.

Disappointing as Billo said, but to come within a fraction of a second of taking a very strong team into OT on their own court, in front of a sell-out crowd, is more frustrating than worrying.

Hopefully revenge will come on Wednesday.

Was it definitely after the buzzer? If the team got excited, perhaps they felt they might have just made it. Have replay film confirmed that? It was truly a great effort from the team to come so close against a strong team, but this is the difference between losing a game and possibly winning a game. Have you any more information on this Isaac.

I think Oscar said that he'd seen a replay and it was hard to tell.

Would've been interesting had it gone into overtime. Rychart and Holmes on 5 fouls, Cooper and Rees on 4.

Boxscore here

Shame about the three, havn't seen any footage so no comment.

Looking at the Box what stood out was how crap we were at Free Throw shooting 57% as a team. Upon looking further Coop's 3/10 ouch! that is going to hurt us in tight games if thats his normal clip. His career FT% is 51% so better than that game but still not all that great.

Was happy with the minutes each player got. Ng will struggle against the taller guards that Townsville had so no surprise he only got 7:39. Oscar probably could have been closer to the 20min mark but guess depends on the flow of the game.

Good effort guys and looking forward to watching the game this Wednesday on Fox.