THE Mount Gambier Lakers claimed a 23-point victory when they travelled to face the Ararat Redbacks for Round 5 of the Country Basketball League’s South West Men’s competition on Saturday.
With leading scorer Kane deWit absent from the side, it was Dellon Brown who stepped up to bag a devastating 45 points for the Lakers.
Six three-point bombs and 12 two-pointers made up the majority of the impressive tally, while he also added six free throws to reach the game-high score.
Despite the final score, the Lakers did not hold the advantage for the entire game, as the Redbacks fired early in the first quarter to lead 22-13 towards the end of the term.
However, the guests rallied in the final minutes of the quarter through Ryan Meakin, Brown and Brodie Jolley to hold the hosts scoreless and narrow the margin to one point.
In the second term, a three-pointer from Ararat’s Blake Thomas opened the scoring, yet the Redbacks could not escape the determined Lakers.
Zach deWit gave his team the lead through a three-pointer with seven minutes to go, but the Redbacks were persistent in their attack.
However, this did not prevent the Lakers from clawing their way into a good half-time position and at the long break Mount Gambier had established a 46-37 lead.
The Lakers made their break with both Brown and Matt Berkefeld unstoppable around the hoop as the margin was extended to 22 points before three-quarter time.
The fourth term saw the Redbacks apply some more pressure, but they were unable to undo the damage from the third.
With the home team’s attempts to narrow the margin futile, the Lakers powered towards the finish line to a final score of 103-80.
Berkefeld also hit hard on the board for the Lakers to finish with a credible 22 points – consisting of eight two-pointers and six free throws – while Zach deWit rounded out the double-figure scores with 13 points.
Meakin and Jolley finished with eight and seven points each respectively – a total which made all the difference to the final score when combined with Jack Wirth’s eight points.
For Ararat, Zachery Dunmore led the way on the scoreboard, with 24 points to his name.
He was joined by Harrison Cronin, who scored 12 points to be the only other player to reach double figures, while Blake Thomas fell just shy with nine.
This win reinforces the Lakers’ position at the top of the ladder and will see them approach the next round with confidence as their campaign for back-to-back premierships continues.
