THE Mount Gambier Pioneers face yet another big test tonight in Round 6 of South East Australian basketball.
The Pioneers host the Nunawading Spectres at the Icehouse, with the home side’s season slowly slipping away.
Mount Gambier has suffered injury woes all season, with some of their best players unable to take the floor at various stages.
That includes Brad Hill, Tom Daly and new recruit Majok Deng.
To have won three games from six with so many disruptions to the roster is testament to the system run by coach Richard Hill and the desire of the players to succeed, but the Pioneers need another victory.
They currently languish down in eighth place, with the Spectres in second, having lost just one game.
In fact, the top of the ladder is rather daunting, with the top five teams all having lost just one game.
It suggests a long road ahead for the Pioneers.
With just 20 games and one division this season, there is no time to waste, with wins paramount for the Pioneers’ survival, which needs to start tonight on their home court.
In the Spectres five wins, four have come against teams outside the top eight, with their one loss to the seventh-placed Dandenong Rangers.
However, it is a similar scenario for the Pioneers, with their three wins coming from the bottom half of the ladder.
The Pioneers have been close on a couple of other occasions, but the lack of personnel has been a real issue.
Last round they called upon the skills of Illawarra NBL player Tim Coenraad, who stood up well in his first two games.
Dropping straight into the lineup, he managed 25 points in a victory against Frankston, which was followed up with a 30-point game the following day.
Unfortunately the Pioneers went down to Kilsyth in that match, again with the lack of personnel playing a big part in the double road trip.
The good news is Coenraad will be back tonight.
The bad news is that decision has been made due to the usual starters still not fit to take the floor in what is shaping up as the toughest test so far this season.
“It would be nice to have one of our guys back, but Tim will help,” Richard Hill said.
“Nunawading is one of the best teams in the competition, so it is a massive challenge for us.
“They have the same group as last year and we got over them by three points in the conference final on our home court.
“We know how good they are and they will be hell bent on extracting some revenge – I have no doubt about that.”
Despite the challenges, Hill said he was pleased with the way his young players were standing up, with the current starting five shouldering a big load early in the season.
“The silver lining is the young blokes are getting the opportunity to play more minutes and they are doing okay,” he said.
“The issue we have now is replacing their roles coming off the bench.
“Historically our best players average about 29 minutes a game.
“For the last month all of our starters have been averaging 30-35 minutes a game.
“We are asking them to do a lot without a lot of support, which is a difficult scenario.”
However, the Pioneers need a victory and Hill said they will do whatever they can to achieve that and stay ahead of the chasing group, relying on the likes of Kane de Wit, Kyle Tipene and Chol Luk to fill the void.
“I have been really pleased with the way we are playing,” he said.
“We played really well against Bendigo and I thought we had two good games last week.
“We are planning to come out and play our best game tonight and hopefully that can get us over the hump.”
The game tips off at 7.30pm.
