Tigers win first Melbourne Derby

The Melbourne Tigers have drawn first blood in the new NBL Melbourne derby at Vodafone Arena last night.

The Tigers after a slow start in the first half overran the South Dragons in the second half and entertained the crowd in a 128-108 victory.

The dragons led by captain Shane Heal, who had 26 points for the game with six of 10 from the three point line as well as a solid performance from former NBA center Todd Fuller who ended with 22 points and 12 rebounds.

Melbourne also were led by there captain, Chris Anstey who ended with 25 points, seven rebounds and eight assists, while Rashad Tucker was just two assists of a triple double and finished the game with 15 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. Big man Axel Dench shot five three-pointers for the game the 2001 rookie of the year ended with 21 for the game.

In front of 7,910 fans at Vodafone the Dragons got off to a sensational start and mainly due to the shooting from there captain, Shane Heal who scored 17 first term points, 15 of those from downtown, shooting 5-5 from the three point line. The Dragons led at the first change by 10 points, mainly due to there shooting from behind the perimeter.

Heal was rested to begin the second term and the Tigers got it back to within six before the Dragons who were hot continued there outside shooting and in the first half shot from 60% from the arc. Tigers coach, Al Westover showed his concerns with not just his team but also the referees and picked up a technical foul in the second term.

Rashad Tucker was a lone hand in keeping the Tigers within reach in the second term and ended the second term with eight points and six rebounds, the Dragons leading 59 – 53.

Chris Anstey led the Tigers in the third term with 15 points for the quarter as his team went on a 26-9 run late in the term to allow Melbourne to carry a comfortable five-point lead heading into the last term.

In the last term the Tigers continued there dominate display when they took the lead out to as much as 26 points in the last, which worked out as a 35-point turnaround for the team. As the Tigers stretched there league in the last they also decided to put on a show for the fans as Dave Thomas soared above the rim late in the game too finish with a huge dunk.

“In the third quarter I thought we would continue to play well then the Tigers threw a little half-court trap on us and we looked like we never played against one before. That just started the momentum and by the fourth quarter we looked like the team that had played last night, not them,” said Dragons coach Mark Price.

Al Westover was happy with his team’s second half performance saying, “Second half we seemed to hit pretty much everything. Ax kind of led that charge as he dropped three straight threes,”

“I thought our offence was excellent. It's the only time I can remember looking at the stats sheet and seeing 40 assists and 10 turnovers. If you have that and shoot 60 percent you should win the game.”

The Tigers travel to Perth on Wednesday to take on the Wildcats at Challenge Stadium before heading home to the Cage on Saturday night for a clash with Townsville.

The Dragons now head to Adelaide to take on the 36ers and continue there search for the first win and then on Sunday night they go regional to Ballarat to take on Cairns.

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