MOUNT Gambier’s Pioneers headed to Millicent over the weekend for the annual Four Team Challenge, with some impressive results.
The Pioneers were joined by the Woodville Warriors, the South Adelaide Panthers and the Eltham Wildcats, providing the ideal pre-season hit out.
The Pioneers kicked off proceedings Friday night with a match against the Wildcats, where captain Tom Daly and new recruit Lewis Thomas led the way.
In a 33-point victory, Daly topped the score sheet for the Pioneers with 23 points, followed by Thomas with 22.
Erik Burdon (13) and Luke Jamieson (10) also reached double figures, with Millicent’s Josh Murphy getting a run and finding eight points for his trouble.
Saturday night saw the Wildcats no match for the Pioneers, with the latter claiming a 44-point victory.
The game saw Thomas produce a dominant performance which should bode well for the club as it heads into the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) season.
His 32-point effort was almost half the Wildcats’ total score and topped the score sheets overall.
Daly (15), Jamieson (14), Murphy (12) and Kane De Wit (12) also reached double figures.
That trend continued in the final game of the weekend against the Panthers, where a 32-point win saw six players in double figures.
Burdon (20), Kyle Tipene (18), Jamieson (18), Thomas (16), Daly (15) and Dellon Brown (10) all reached the mark, topping off a successful weekend.
Pioneers’ coach Richard Hill said he was pleased with the way the weekend panned out, with some tough games, despite the final scores.
“We had some workouts this week and guys who have been here a while felt we were perhaps in better shape than we have been other years for this tournament,” he said.
“We have really only had a week of training, but most of the guys are in pretty good shape.
“The guys who have been here in Mount Gambier have been working out for a couple of months and the guys who have come in are in good order.
“We played decent opposition and even though they aren’t SEABL level, it was competitive.
“We had to play hard to get the results we did.
“They didn’t roll over and while we beat them comfortably, they didn’t quit at any stage.
“To our guys credit they worked hard for the whole games.”
Hill said he was pleased with how Thomas settled into the side.
“Lewis was really good, along with Tom Daly,” he said.
“They were the two outstanding players of the tournament.
“Lewis was pretty impressive, but you wouldn’t expect him to put up those sort of numbers in SEABL.”
Likewise Hill said he was pleased with how the younger players held themselves, including Murphy in his first run at that level.
“Josh exceeded expectations,” he said.
“I think he was better than he expected to be.
“I thought he would be able to compete, but given he hasn’t played at that level of basketball, he did a really good job for us.”
Overall, Hill said regardless of the final scores and those of individual players, the weekend was more about game time and preparing for a couple of tough weekends ahead against SEABL teams before the season kicks off proper.
The Pioneers will head to Geelong in two weeks’ time, before returning to Melbourne the following week, with all games against SEABL opposition, which Hill said would show where the team is currently at.
