INJURY woes continue to hamper a national championship defence for the Mount Gambier Pioneers in the South East Australian Basketball League 2018 season.
The Pioneers split a double road trip in Round 6 of the competition, with Tom Daly, Brad Hill and Majok Deng still out of the lineup.
Regardless, the Pioneers managed an impressive 25-point victory over Frankston Saturday night, before facing Kilsyth Sunday where they suffered an 11-point loss.
The weekend saw the inclusion of Wollongong NBL player Tim Coenraad, to help cover the injury concerns.
Coenraad showed his value immediately, slotting into the team Saturday night for 25 points and five rebounds, while Sunday saw an impressive 30 points and eight rebounds.
The extra body saw a reasonably strong starting lineup, which included Luke Jamieson, Erik Burdon, Lewis Thomas and Kyle Tipene, but still well short of the depth of last year’s championship-winning roster.
Just three players took to the floor from 2017, which included Burdon, Jamieson and Kane De Wit, with the latter also under an injury cloud.
While Coenraad’s 25 points was impressive in his first run with the side Saturday, Thomas topped the night with 26, plus a huge 14 rebounds, with 10 of those at the defensive end.
Burdon (14), Jamieson (12) and Tipene (11) all reached double figures.
Sunday saw Coenraad’s effort complemented by Jamieson, who finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds for a solid double-double.
However, Thomas (11) was the only other Pioneer to hit double-figure scoring.
The Pioneers are in the top eight after six games, on three wins and three losses, with the season yet to escape the defending champions, but becoming more distant each week.
However, coach Richard Hill has certainly not given up hope and said to claim one win from the weekend was a good result considering the injury woes.
“We played really well in both games,” he said.
“Kilsyth is probably one of the better teams and they were very strong.
“We were right there, but just ran out of gas at the end.
“Our starting five all played 35 minutes on the back of playing the night before.
“It was a tough day, but not a disappointing day in terms of the effort level and the way we played.”
Hill said the fatigue showed in the end, with some mistakes late in the match against Kilsyth which could have cost the game.
Coenraad had one training run with the Pioneers before the tip off on Saturday, but Hill was pleased with how he slotted into the roster at such late notice.
“We needed to do something with three of our starters missing,” he said.
“We were thin on the ground for guys who could step up, so knowing Tim reasonably well and him having connections through both Brad and Luke was a good scenario for us.
“Having that extra player made a massive difference.
“He is pretty smart so was able to pick up our system reasonably well.
“It hurt us a little bit Sunday – he scored 30 and played really well, but we were limited what we could do under pressure because he does not know the intricate parts of our structures – but we could not fault the way he played.”
Hill said he was also impressed with Thomas, who came into the roster this year and had a big impact on Saturday’s win.
“As good as Tim was on Saturday night, Lewis was the best player on the court,” he said.
“He had a huge game.”
Regardless of the outcomes from the weekend, 14 games remain in the season for the Pioneers to return to championship-winning form.
The Pioneers face second-placed Nunawading at the Icehouse Friday night, which will provide another tough challenge and is a must win, with games against Hobart and North West Tasmania to follow.
It is not the ideal scenario, but something Hill said the team must cope with.
“If we can win a couple of those games, it puts us in a reasonable position,” he said.
“But given our injury situation, it is not out of the question we will not win any of them.
“We could end up six (wins) and three (losses), or three and six.
“Any win in the next three weeks will be crucial for us.”
Those wins may have to be reliant on the usual roster, with the logistics of bringing Coenraad back to town for Friday’s game against Nunawading – considering his personal commitments in Wollongong – a tough prospect.
Either way, the chips are down and the Pioneers need to stand tall before the season disappears over the horizon.
“This is new ground for us,” Hill said.
“We have been blessed with good luck for a long time.
“Right now we are just trying to do the best we can to deal with these issues and we are confident we can.”
