After an opening-round win against Blackburn the Gators have now dropped their past three games, but continue to show promising signs in patches.
Away at Boardman Stadium, Shepparton went basket-for-basket early with Sunbury, tied at quarter-time before trailing narrowly at the main break.
But once again, it was lapses at both ends that hurt the Gators in key moments, with Sunbury able to get multiple stops and convert easy looks around the basket.
“We wanted to go and put on a better show than the weekend before,” Gators head coach Josh Waight said.
“They played really well and we showed glimpses, but we’ve got to find that consistency.”
Import Ryan Batte was outstanding again, finishing with 25 points and 15 rebounds in a huge double-double effort.
Kiwi guard Taine Wattie had a breakout performance, pouring in 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting while adding six rebounds.
Aaron Dolny kept up his hot shooting, adding 13 off the bench.
But it was the defensive end that left Waight wanting more.
“Defensively, we need to get stops in a row,” he said.
“They found rollers to the basket and got some easy ones — that’s an area we need to clean up.”
With no game scheduled over the Easter break, the Gators will have a timely chance to reset and refocus before hitting the road to face Pakenham on April 26.
Waight said the break came at the perfect time.
“It’s a good chance for us to figure ourselves out,” he said.
“We have the talent to be successful.
“It’s about finding the chemistry and the groups that work together and we know we can be better.”
After the Pakenham game, the Gators will return to Shepparton Sports Stadium for a big double-header weekend in early May, something Waight said the team was already looking forward to.
“We love playing in front of the home crowd,” he said.
“We’ll be working hard over the next couple of weeks because we want to put on a much better show for our fans.”
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