THE Mount Gambier Pioneers bounced back in style in Round 2 of the 2018 South East Australian Basketball League season, when it hosted Albury Wodonga at the Icehouse on Friday night.
After going down to Geelong in the opening round, the Pioneers were determined to put a win on the board as it faced the Bandits in front of a home crowd.
In a high-scoring affair seeing the Pioneers reach a huge 127-point total, Tom Daly led by example, banging home 40 points and dishing off 11 assists in a clinic from the point guard position.
With starting-five players Brad Hill and Majok Deng out for the night, it was always going to be a tough ask to clam the win, with the Bandits coming off a last-round victory and boasting plenty of talent.
But that had little effect on the contest, with the Pioneers finishing the game with five double-figure scorers in a dominant performance for a 33-point victory.
In the opening minute of the game Lewis Thomas had the Pioneers on the board, with Daly following up soon after.
Thomas and Daly continued to find the basket and when Erik Burdon drained his first three of the game, the lead was already out to seven points.
Burdon backed that up with another triple less than a minute later and the Pioneers looked every bit a championship-defender.
A Kane De Wit rebound put Luke Jameison down the floor in open space, with a crowd-pleasing dunk the result, with roles reversed on the next play, when Jameison grabbed the rebound and De Wit went to the hoop for a regulation two-point layup.
Kyle Tipene found his first points for the night and despite some resistance from the Bandits, a late Dellon Brown three put the Pioneers out by 16 at the first break.
The lack of Deng and Hill appeared to be covered, with Chol Luk hitting the floor and showing why coach Richard Hill has faith in the youngster.
Tipene was standing up to the challenge, bringing plenty of energy to the contest and Brown was relishing his time on the floor.
The score-fest continued in the second term, with Burdon, Tipene and Daly all adding triples, before Luk put up a two-point floater to cap it off.
Daly finished the term with a regulation layup to put the home side out by 20 at the long break.
An early basket in the third to Lamar Mallory closed the margin slightly for the Bandits, but the response was swift, with Burdon and Daly adding twos, while a further foul to the latter saw another two successful free throws.
Burdon was on fire from outside the three-point arc, with the Bandits having no answer.
An unsportsmanlike foul on Daly from Rashad Hasan brought uproar from the fans, but Daly simply got to his feet and drained the pair of free throws.
By the final break a 29-point lead to the Pioneers spelled the end for the Bandits, but neither side backed off from there, providing a big shoot out for the appreciative fans.
In the end Jamieson finished off proceedings with a three-point bomb and the Pioneers were home, easy victors, despite the lack of personnel, which should augur well for the remainder of the season.
Apart from Daly, Burdon was also impressive on the night, finishing with 26 points, with six threes from eight attempts.
Thomas managed 21 points and 11 rebounds, while Tipene (13) and De Wit (10) also reached double figures.
Jamieson finished with nine points, but pulled down 10 defensive rebounds.
“It was a good result for us,” Richard Hill said.
“It was a big ask with Majok and Brad (Hill) out, but with Tom and Erik getting us off to a good start, it made it easier for everyone else and covered many of the issues we may have had.
“Everybody had very good games.
“It was a good night all round.”
After a poor shooting performance last week against Geelong, Hill said it was pleasing to see such a big result.
“We shot the ball really well – it is amazing to think we doubled our score from the previous week,” he said.
“But the Geelong game was a totally opposite game.
“They took us out of our comfort zone and we shot poorly,
“This week we only had eight turnovers, compared to 25 last week.”
Despite the two big names sitting on the bench, Hill said one bonus was the work the team had completed pre-season, which he said went a long way towards the final result.
“Those guys who played Friday night have played all of our pre-season games, where the week before, Majok had not played any games and Brad had only played two of the pre-season games,” he said.
“I’m sure those guys would have felt very comfortable together.
“I thought it was a really good example of our group being solid and the guys being able to cover for each other.”
