MOUNT Gambier’s Pioneers suffered a big blow to their 2018 South East Australian Basketball League season with a loss to Dandenong Rangers on Friday night.
A big crowd turned up at the Icehouse to welcome new import player Alex Marzette to the floor to help fill holes left by the retiring Brad Hill and injured Majok Deng, but the celebrations were short lived, as the home side struggled to keep pace with the visitors for the full four quarters.
Marzette had only flown into town on Wednesday, with little time to settle into the team structure and recover from the long flight.
But it gave the side a full roster for the first time this season and the chance to record another win on the way to the second half of the season.
The 16-point loss was not without its highlights, as second-gamer Sam McDaniel picked up where he left off last week with an impressive return of 26 points and eight rebounds to top the score sheets.
From the opening tip off it was clear the Rangers had come to play, despite the Pioneers recording the first points of the game in the second minute of play through a pair of free throws from Luke Jamieson.
McDaniel put a three up soon after, but with just three minutes played the game was tied and a further minute in, the Rangers were out to a three-point lead.
The game see-sawed for much of the term, with the Rangers creating a six-point buffer with three minutes to play.
However, the Pioneers hit back through McDaniel and Kane de Wit, the latter sinking a two-point jumper with just three seconds on the clock to go to the first break only two points in arrears.
From there the Rangers began to make their mark, despite an early crowd-pleasing alley-oop from Lewis Thomas.
Three minutes in the Rangers lead was out to six points, but McDaniel drained a triple to keep the home side in touch.
With four minutes to play Jamieson pulled the deficit back to two points off a layup and a subsequent foul shot, but from there it was all the Rangers.
A 9-0 run put the visitors out by 11 points, with a Thomas free throw ending the term with the home side down by 10.
The third term began in a positive manner, with Jamieson throwing down a dunk just 10 seconds in to ignite the crowd.
The visitors continued to push, but the home side had the answers, with threes from McDaniel and de Wit keeping them in touch.
However, by the final break the margin had crept out to 14 points and the Pioneers were unable to close it down in the final stanza.
Jamieson joined McDaniel in double figures, with 14 points and nine rebounds, while de Wit managed 12.
Erik Burdon, Tom Daly and Thomas were all kept quiet, while Marzette failed to hit the scoreboard in his first match, but did pull down a pair of rebounds and dish off one assist.
The Pioneers now sit in the unenviable position of three wins outside the top eight after 10 games of the 20-game season.
They have until June 16 after a league-wide bye to regroup and refocus before they host Kilsyth Cobras.
For coach Richard Hill it was a disappointing result in what has been a tough week.
“We started well, but missed some shots we should have made,” he said.
“They were able to stay in the type of defence they wanted to play, where we would normally be too quick and agile, but we were not able to do that.”
Hill said despite Daly and Burdon with quiet nights, the side was still in touch throughout the contest, but simply could not close the margin as the game wound down, despite some impressive individual efforts.
“We were still hanging in there, but it was always going to be tough once they got a big lead on us,” he said.
“I thought Sam was really good for us – in a new environment where he is still learning, he had a great game and was as good as anyone on the court.
“Lewis battled away against bigger stronger guys and I thought Kane played pretty well.”
With just four wins and six losses on the register, the Pioneers face a tough run home, which Hill said was not the main focus for him at the moment.
“I try to put that out of my mind and work towards playing as good basketball as we can, as soon as we can,” he said.
“You cannot look too far ahead or it looks like an awfully big mountain to climb.
“We will concentrate on Kilsyth coming in and see if we can play our best.
“I think our best will be good enough to win at home, but it think it will take a lot of work to play our best.”
