MOUNT Gambier’s Pioneers did the only thing they could possibly do to keep their 2018 South East Australian Basketball League season hopes alive, with two wins from the weekend’s round of games.
As the season heads deep into the second half, Mount Gambier simply needs to win to have any chance of reaching the playoffs.
Just five games remain for the Pioneers, who currently sit with seven wins from the season down in 11th place and to make the playoffs would require an eighth place finish.
The best they can do is 12 wins.
But Thursday night that mathematical scenario was forgotten as they faced the Nunawading Spectres, minus captain and star point guard Tom Daly.
Daly sustained another injury which would keep him out of the double-header at home, but the side picked up the pieces and took on the Spectres as if the season depended on it – which it did.
The star of the night was Alex Marzette, who spent just under 30 minutes on the floor for his 27 points.
Erik Burdon also stood up to the challenge with 17 points, shooting at 60pc from beyond the three-point arc.
But the 10-point victory was anything but a walk in the park, with the Spectres out to a seven-point advantage mid-way through the opening term.
Burdon hit a three with four minutes remaining, followed by a two-point jumper to Marzette to wrestle back the lead.
The Spectres responded, but a Sam McDaniel dunk on the buzzer had the home side down by just two points.
The second term saw the Pioneers hit their straps, out to an early lead off a Burdon triple.
The lead then see-sawed until a Marzette three opened the margin to four points.
The arm wrestle continued, but when Marzette sunk his second free throw on the buzzer the margin had crept out to six points and the Pioneers went to the long break with confidence.
From there they opened the margin to 11 points off a Kyle Tipene two and McDaniel three, before maintaining it to the final break, with a 10-point advantage.
The Pioneers held sway in the final stanza to claim the win and keep their season hopes alive.
Lewis Thomas also finished in double figures with 11 points.
Friday night they hosted the Frankston Blues and were again pushed to the limit, but came away with another 10-point victory, despite McDaniel sidelined through injury.
McDaniel sustained an injury Thursday night and it appears he will take no further part in the season.
The Blues stood up to the challenge for much of the game, leading at the end of the first and third terms.
With everything on the line, the Pioneers hit the floor in the final stanza with everything to lose – and everything to gain.
A triple to Marzette closed the margin to two points just two minutes in, before Lewis Thomas tied the game up soon after.
The Blues responded with a triple, but Marzette added one of his own to regain the lead.
Mid-way through the term the home side led by a solitary point, before Tipene drained a three, then drove to the basket soon after to hold the advantage.
The Blues refused to go away, but Luke Jamieson and Marzette kept the pressure on.
With less than two minutes to play Jamieson hit a triple to stretch the margin to eight and the Blues could not recover.
In the end Marzette had another big game with 33 points, Tipene chipped in with 20, Thomas 16 and Jamieson 14.
The week’s games panned out with mixed results from other sides above the Pioneers on the ladder, not making life that much easier.
BA CoE managed a victory to take them to 10 wins for the season, with a firm hold on a top-eight position.
The Pioneers will face the Institute side in Canberra on Friday night, before taking on the winless Canberra on Saturday, also in the nation’s capital.
But of course injury woes continued to thwart their efforts this season, with the horror run not allowing the side to settle with a regular full roster.
While coach Richard Hill said it was always good to beat Nunawading, he said Friday night’s win over Frankston was also impressive.
“Frankston is a pretty talented team and were pretty hard to beat,” he said.
“But we played well given that we lost Sam McDaniel on Thursday night.
“Sam will probably miss the rest of the regular season so we are running out of bodies.”
Marzette’s efforts over the two nights was not lost on Hill, especially Friday night’s game.
“In real terms he has come good pretty quick and settled in,” he said.
“We had him coming off the bench, but Friday night he stepped into the starting lineup.
“He was very good for us.”
Despite the two victories the Pioneers still face an uphill battle to reach the playoffs, but that is a goal Hill has certainly not given up on.
“We have shown we can compete with anybody, even when we are down on numbers,” he said.
“The guys have shown terrific fight and we are still there, we are not out of the equation totally.
“We have always felt if we had a team together there was not anyone we could not beat and we have shown that at times.
“But a few losses could come back to haunt us – we lost by two to Hobart over there on their court, then took Kilsyth to overtime and should have beaten them.”
But now it is down to the final couple of rounds and the Pioneers need to once again fight against adversity.
“We have five more games and we want to win four of those to be in with a shot,” Hill said.
“I look at how many losses you can have and the teams ahead of us, I think most of those will have nine losses.
“We have had eight, but we have a better percentage than everybody we are in a fight with, so if we can get to level pegging with anybody in eighth or ninth spot, we will get there on percentage.”
It seems like a tough task, but going on the performance of the side, taking all injuries into account, anything is possible in the final three rounds of competition.
