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WAYBACK Wednesday was a weekly feature I wrote last season for Adelaide 36ers website, which now you can revisit, see for the first time or completely ignore!

ADELAIDE 36ERS V NEWCASTLE FALCONS

NEWCASTLE ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE, FEBRUARY 20, 1988

KEN Cole is a legend of Australian basketball and a Hall of Famer noted for far more than just his coaching career.

But Cole, who steered Adelaide’s 1986 “Invincibles” to the club’s first NBL Championship had few answers when the bulk of that same team hit Newcastle.

Now coaching the Falcons, The King bore the brunt of his own work as the 36ers, looking to bury the disappointment of their 1987 finals campaign, made their intentions clear in just 12 minutes.

That was how long it took to set up the 148-112 road win in front of a shell-shocked crowd at Newcastle Entertainment Centre.

In easily the most complete team performance by the Sixers since Cole was railroaded out of town, they demonstrated an aggressive defensive intensity that left the Falcons floundering and reduced them to put-up-and-pray shots for much of the game.

And with Darryl Pearce (48 points) and Al Green (31) on fire, Newcastle was never allowed a look in.

An elated Sixers' coach Gary Fox was full of praise for his team and claimed they would soon be 20 points better.

Indeed, at one stage the Sixers led by 40 but at no stage in the last quarter did Fox have his power five on the court.

“It was a great team effort but it was just the first sip from the bottle,” Fox promised.

“Most of the stuff we tried worked.

“Newcastle hung in for about six minutes and after that we just blew them out.

“Our defensive toughness and offensive variety sank them; they just didn't know where to turn.”

Cole gambled but burnt out his starting five in the first half as he tried to match the pace set by Adelaide.

While his players were worn down by the speed of the game and the humid, energy-sapping conditions of the night at Newcastle stadium, Fox kept rotating his players and tightening the screws, the 43-24 third period decisive.

“Before the game I had spoken with Darryl about opening up more in offence and the players went with him when he got hot,” Fox said.

In the third quarter, Pearce collated 17 points while Green had 16.

“Our guards had given us 33 out of 43 points for the quarter,” Fox said.

“Darryl's effort was as good a shooting exhibition as anyone could want to see.

“And Al orchestrated the offence like a symphony conductor while in defence he shutout Jerry Everett, one of Newcastle's major scoring avenues.”

At one point in the third quarter as Adelaide's magic run of scoring continued, Fox and assistant coach Don Shipway were openly enjoying the rampage on the bench while Cole was exploding on his.

So frustrated did Cole become with his team he was twice given technical fouls by the referees and was just one foul from being ordered from the stadium.

“Newcastle was lucky to reach 100,” Fox said, gleeful he had finally broken clear of Cole’s vast coaching shadow.

“It was only that we wound down a bit in the last period and relaxed our defence that they reached the score they did.”

The potential evident in the season-opening loss to Perth was delivered on against Newcastle.

The discipline of the defence saw players such as Michael Johnson closed down and the speed of the fast breaks and the creative passing simply carved up the Falcons.

The depth of the Adelaide bench was telling and every player had at least seven minutes on the court.

Rookie Mark Bradtke started to make his presence felt and appeared to be growing in confidence while Peter Ali dominated defensively and played a key role with his screens which gave Pearce hectares of room for his 3-point assault.

Mark Davis and Bill Jones, who both had to contend with some rather doubtful foul trouble, both hit double figures and showed they will be exerting even more influence in the coming weeks as they approach full fitness.

The 36ers owned the boards 43-24.

Adelaide finished shooting at a withering 60 per cent and went 58 per cent on 3-pointers.

Newcastle was led by Wayne McDaniel’s 30 points – his son Sam is now a chip off the old block with Southern Tigers in the SA SBL – while Townsville's coach Shawn Dennis delivered 18 points at 50 per cent, including 2-of-3 triples.

Containing Pearce?

That was just an impossibility, the Iceman’s score STILL the 36ers’ single-game individual scoring record.