TOMORROW night will see Round 7 of the Country Basketball League season kick off, with the Mount Gambier Lakers to hit the road for their second 2017-18 meeting with the Portland Coasters.
Last time the two teams met was in Round 4 and on the Lakers’ terms, as they claimed a 35-point win at the Icehouse.
This week will see them make the trip to the Lighthouse to face the Coasters, but with the Lakers’ track record for 2017-18, this will unlikely have an effect on performance.
The Lakers are yet to lose a game this season and with their first away game in Round 5 seeing them account for the third-placed Ararat RedBacks by 23 points, the Coasters should be easy pickings.
Portland currently holds a 0/3 win/loss record and resides at the bottom of the South West Men’s ladder, while the Lakers will go into tomorrow’s clash looking for their sixth consecutive win.
With leading scorer Kane deWit absent from the previous round, Dellon Brown filled the hole left behind by scoring a monstrous 45 points against the RedBacks.
If Brown can back up this impressive performance, along with the added scoring power from both Kane and Zach deWit, the Lakers will be an almost unconquerable force for the Coasters.
Matthew Berkefeld will also lend his strength to the scoreboard and will look to replicate his tally of 22 points from last round.
The last clash between the Lakers and the Coasters saw Kane deWit lead the way with 33 points, while Zach deWit held the next best score with 13 and Brown recorded 12.
Add into the mix the likes of Berkefeld, Lachlan Atkinson and Luke Black – who all recorded credible scores in the Round 4 game – and the team should have the man-power to bring home another convincing win.
This is reinforced by the fact the Coasters most recent loss came at the hands of the RedBacks, where Portland went down by a narrow five points.
In this match, the Coasters showed some depth to have four players record double figures.
Ash Hill and Jackson Dunlop led the way with 13 points each, while Aaron Caldow and Harry Punton scored 12.
These players will need to lift their game for tomorrow’s match and hit hard on the scoreboard if their team is to keep up with the in-form Lakers squad.
In Round 4 the Lakers established their dominance early on in the game, leading 23-13 after the first term before increasing the margin to 19 points by the long break.
From there the Coasters could not contest with the fast pace of the Lakers and by three-quarter time the board showed an 80-42 point scoreline.
The Coasters maintained pressure in the final term to hold the game to a 35-point deficit, but could not find a way on top of their consistent opponents.
If the Lakers can uphold this same intensity going into tomorrow’s match, the Coasters may well be left to watch their guests run away with the win and the corresponding premiership points.
