Essington Cannons surge late to claw past Palmerston Power in Round 11 of the Darwin Basketball Championship

A SECOND half surge saw Essington Cannons return from an early deficit to beat Palmerston Power 84-76 in Round 11 of the Darwin Basketball Championship

Cannons’ Captain Lachlan Shipway impressed with a 20 point haul against Palmerston. Picture: GLENN CAMPBELL

A SECOND half surge saw Essington Cannons return from an early deficit to beat Palmerston Power 84-76 in Round 11 of the Darwin Basketball Championship.

It was all Palmerston early on with the outfit surging to a 22-9 lead by the end of the first quarter with Shaquile Hophia-Wilson (24 points), Jordan Sing (23 points) and Jesse Bell (11 points) all contributing.

And while not in the scoring Steven Sing made a massive contribution defensively using his height to keep the shorter Cannons at bay.

But his game was ended when he took a knock to the mouth prior to half time, leading to a reversal in fortunes for the two sides.

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Essington surged back into the game in the third quarter using their speed to out run the Palmerston bigs with Raymond Jarrett (24 points), Lachlan Shipway (20 points) and Elijah Barbour (15 points) all in the scoring.

Recent pickup Reece Proctor (nine points) proved pivotal once again for the Cannons scoring important free throws to steady the team against a returning Power side late in the match.

Captain Shipway was stoked to get the win over their rivals with the side now currently secure as fourth on the table.

“First half we were really rough and just down on offence. We weren’t playing bad on defence, we just weren’t scoring,” Shipway told the NT News.

“As a team we really stepped it up in the third quarter and really bridged the gap so from there we knew if we kept chipping away we would have a chance.

“Our offence wasn’t moving. We were running our sets and doing what we needed but the shots weren’t dropping but once we started making shots we were all good.

“This win is huge, gives us fourth solidly and it’s really big for us to say we have that win over Palmerston and now we can give these other teams a go.”

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Meanwhile in other men’s championship action Ellas Titans (Deba George, 38 points, seven three pointers) kept their finals hopes alive with a 95-65 win over Uni Rebels (Eric Klenke, 15 points).

On the women’s side of the draw Ansett (T’leyah Turner, 23 points) continued their strong winning form with an 83-59 win over Uni Rebels (Danielle Ponter, 28 points).