By Tara Murray
Sunbury Jets have cemented their spot at the top of Big V men’s division 1, after a win in the top of the table clash against Warrandyte Venom.
Coming into the game on the back of a 10 game winning streak, the Jets faced one of their biggest challenges this season.
In an up and down match, the Jets came out on top, winning 76-70.
Jets guard Kris Blicavs said they always expected it to be a tough match.
The Jets were up by 10 points at half-time, before being able to hold on.
“Warrandyte play a pretty unique game style,” he said.
“We knew it would be a really tough game and it was an up and down match.
“It was nice to come away with it.”
The match again showed the Jets composure late in games.
On several occasions they’ve come away with the win in close matches.
Blicavs said it had to do with the work that they had been doing off court.
“This season been trying to build a positive culture,” he said.
“The turnover of players and game style, made it not a really enjoyable place to be.
“We worked out how we wanted to play basketball and we know that no matter what happens on the floor we will grind it out.
“We were able to walk away with the win.”
All five Jets starters scored double figures on Sunday, led by Ish Sanders who scored 17 points.
Blicavs, who scored 12 points, said the unselfishness of the playing group was a key to their game.
“It’s not always attractive basketball, but everyone plays for each other.
“It’s a great strength that we share the ball, sometimes more than we should.
“It’s about getting the ball in the right spot. We have so many people who can score and we’re not relying on one or two players.”
The win takes the Jets winning streak to 11 and they now sit two games clear on top.
Blicavs said the group didn’t know what to expect when they came together this year.
He said they would continue to focus on the week by week challenges.
He said they were still to play their best basketball.
“We’re a brand new team with only Arthur Trousdell and Ben Jones coming back from last year along with Addo [Ryan Addison] as coach.
“We knew we had the pieces to put together something special.
“We’ve done a lot of stuff behind the scenes. The one percenters and the culture building.
“We have a team that plays for each other … We’ve got to make sure we are doing the right things.
“If we do all those things and hopefully top spot will fall to us.”
The Sunbury Jets women’s side rebounded from a shock loss the previous week, beating the Casey Cavaliers 83-45.
Jacinta Beckley, had her best game of the season, with 19 points.
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