THE Kennedy's Tours Shoalhaven Tigers have returned to the youth league men's winner's circle after a dominant 79-67 victory against the Blacktown Storm.
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Despite back-to-back losses, Scott Balsar's Cubs shot out of the gate, thanks to four first quarter three-pointers to Gavin Costain, to lead 23-16 at the end of one.
Continued defensive pressure and pushing the pace on offence saw the hosts at the Tigers Den extend the lead to 12 points (41-29) at half-time.
As expected, the Storm threw everything they had at the Cubs, reducing the margin to just eight midway through the term.
But a timely three-pointer by Lachlan Armstrong and some extraordinary passes by point guard Josh Watts helped the Tigers push their advantage out to 11 by the end of three quarters.
The Tigers strong play, led by skipper Riley O'Shannessy, continued in the final term, as the Tigers ran out 12-point winners - moving them to 7-8 on the season.
In the victory, O'Shannessy finished with 30 points, while Costain (17) and Kyle Leslie (13) also scored in double figures.
"Getting a fast start to the game was a point of emphasis at training, as I explained how important this game was to our season," coach Balsar said.
"Our season was on the line - it was really a grand final for us.
"A win kept us in touch with the top four while a loss would have made it nearly impossible to make up the distance.
"Thankfully, just like the Penrith game, all the boys turned up to play - they all stuck to the game plan, by getting the ball through hands on offence and executing our plan on defence."
The Cubs next hit the road for an away Waratah League double-header, which will see them at Bankstown (Saturday 12pm) and Central Coast (Sunday 12pm).
"There's no reason why we can't win both games this weekend, as we've shown that in both previous meetings against the Bruins and Crusaders," Balsar said.
"The key will be running their shooters of the three-point line and getting contributions, like we did against Blacktown, from all of our players.
"If we can do that, I'm confident we can keep our finals hopes alive."