THE Griffith Demons have continued their perfect start to the State League season after thrashing Queanbeyan on Saturday night, on the back of a red-hot shooting effort from Andrew Cullen with 46 points.
Griffith’s 20-point belting of the Yowies completed an impressive two-game road stretch to begin the year, but the big story was Cullen’s effort from the floor.
The Demons coach torched the net for an amazing 11 three-pointers, a career high for the sharpshooter, but was philosophical about his turnaround in form, having scored just six the week before.
“I just got off to a good start and went from there,” Cullen said.
“I said the boys after the game, you either play a good game or a bad game, but after it’s over it’s done you just try and get back out there the next week and learn from your mistakes and improve.”
Queanbeyan used a zone defence early and the extra attention placed on Griffith’s American import Alex Chapman, allowed Cullen to get open looks from beyond the arc, which he was happy to knock down with almost monotonous regularity.
But Cullen was quick to point out every player that stepped onto the court hit important shots, and kept up the pressure on the Yowies to stop the entire team, not just one man.
“We can’t around saying ‘good on you Alex’ we need to step up and yesterday just happened to be me,” he said.
“(Chapman) was looking for me and setting good picks for me, but every time somebody was asked to hit a shot they did and it was one of those games where the group played very well. Because they (Queanbeyan) are a good team, they were quite big and matched up well with Chappy and they’re experienced.”
Andrew Cappello and Todd Howard earned praise from their coach for their important minutes played and for their job in defence in locking down their opponents.
“The bench was key for us, a guy like Spratty (Dean Spratt) played one minute but he was so involved with the game,” Cullen said.
“To go away with eight guys and have that kind of support, it’s huge and it’s important when we get wins like that.”
Chapman again showed his quality in scoring 25 points and pulling in more than 20 rebounds in another dominant game.
But typifying his passion for his adopted side was a show-stopping move with the game still in the balance in the fourth quarter.
As the Yowies threatened a comeback, starting at mid-range Chapman blew past his man towards the baseline, before dunking it on the defence and letting out a yell that signalled the game was over as a contest.
“It was good to see because he was excited about the move, not because of him, but because he knew we were going to win,” Cullen said.
Griffith Demons 95
Queanbeyan Yowies 75
