Careless Tigers Fall To 36ers

The Sunday Age

Sunday January 7, 2007

By JORDAN CHONG

PHENOMENAL shooting from a former Tiger helped the Adelaide 36ers sink Melbourne 114-96 at the State Netball Centre last night.

Marcus Timmons lit it up for a game-high 27 points, including 5-of-8 from beyond the arc, to hand the Tigers, who led 12-3 four minutes in, their third loss from the past five matches.

Timmons had a pretty good supporting cast - Brett Maher had 21, Willie Farley netted 20 and Adelaide shot 16-of-34 from long range. Rashad Tucker was best for the home side with 22 points.

Melbourne certainly didn't do itself any favours with some careless ball-handling as Adelaide scored 32 points off Tiger turnovers.

The loss dropped Melbourne to 16-7 and loosened its hold on second place to the chasing Perth Wildcats and Townsville Crocodiles.

Tigers co-captain Darryl McDonald promised a much improved showing against the South Dragons on their home court on Wednesday. "We know the Dragons are coming in here. We've just got to buckle down. We're going to get things fixed. I can guarantee you that," McDonald said.

"It starts with me, case closed. If I come out throwing it away, they feel like they can do it too. I'll take the blame for this. Turning the ball over like that, we're not going to win like that.

"Turnovers have been troubling us all year. We have got to start taking care of the ball."

Timmons said he and another former Tiger Lanard Copeland, who had 10 points, were determined to play well.

"Me and Copeland talked about it. I went over to his house and said 'Man, we've got the Tigers, that's our old team so let's come out and give a spark off the bench'," Timmons said.

Adelaide coach Phil Smyth said he had no doubt Timmons was in for a big night against his old club.

"He was just lighting it up in practice this week. It's nice to have him," Smyth said.

The 36ers improve to 10-14.

? Sydney maintained its recent dominance over Wollongong and consolidated its top-four spot with a hard-fought 95-90 win over the Hawks last night. Wollongong trailed by 16 points early, but fought back to twice lead by a point in the final minutes before the Kings rallied to clinch their eighth straight win over Wollongong.

? Brisbane thrashed Singapore 131-116 while Perth defeated West Sydney 101-81.

? In the Women's National Basketball League, Townsville defeated Bulleen 92-79 last night.

© 2007 The Sunday Age

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