Hume City Broncos’ finals hopes are hanging by a thread in the Big V men’s state championship.
Sitting outside the top six, the eighth-placed Broncos need to win their remaining three matches and everything else to go their way.
The Broncos’ task got a lot harder on Sunday when they lost to Waverley Falcons.
A poor second quarter cost the Broncos, as they scored just eight points and trailed by 25 points at the main break.
In the end, they lost 89-47.
Speaking before the match, Broncos coach Kelvin Bowers knew their season was on the line. He had been hopeful of playing the basketball they had for most of their game against top side Ringwood Hawks.
“The cards are drawn,” he said.
“We’ll see what we are made of. There is self belief in my team that they can play well for the rest of the season.
“In the Ringwood game, we shot well, played good defence and should have won.”
Bowers said if they missed out on playing finals, it would be a disappointing outcome for the season. He said it’s a case of what might have been, with the side losing five games by 10 points or less.
“I would be lying if I said otherwise,” he said.
“We’ve lost so many games that we should have won. The game against Knox and a few others we should have got the win.
“We shouldn’t be in this position. We wanted to finish in the top four.
“We know that the potential is there, we need to show it. We’ll never give up on ourselves.”
For a second straight year, the Broncos haven’t been helped by injuries to key players, but Bowers won’t use that as an excuse.
The Broncos finish their up and down season against Casey Cavaliers (sixth), Eltham Wildcats (second) and Corio Bay Stingrays (bottom). Bowers said it will be a good test for them.
“If we want to make finals, we have to beat these teams and we can’t stray from that.
“There is three winnable games left and all three games are winnable.
“I’m confident we’ll be able to go out there and perform.”
The Broncos’ women’s side had an 80-69 win against Bulleen Boomers on Saturday night.
Sophie Byrnes, who played all 40 minutes, top scored with 23 points.
Tara Murray
