THE Mount Gambier Lakers are back on home soil for their fourth straight Country Basketball League game at the Icehouse tomorrow night.
The Lakers will host the Colac Kookas in the Round 8 fixture, in what should be another victory for the home side.
Mount Gambier comes off the back of a double-header last week at home, where they went down to the Horsham Hornets – the first defeat for the side this season.
The game came down to the final seconds, as the Hornets claimed the win by just four points to steal top spot from the Lakers on the South West conference ladder.
However, Mount Gambier bounced back on the Sunday to deal the Warrnambool Seahawks a demoralising 47-point defeat to reassert their authority on the competition.
Against the Hornets the Lakers were well served my Lachlan Hunter under the basket, with 18 points to lead the side, while Braiden Ousey (17) and Kane de Wit (15) were also good contributors.
Hunter led all scorers Sunday against the Seahawks with 26 points, while five other Lakers reached double figures.
That gave Mount Gambier seven wins from eight games and second place on the ladder, while the Kookas sit in seventh place with just three wins from eight games.
The two sides are yet to face off this season, but going on results, the Lakers are in the box seat to record another victory.
Last time out the Kookas went down to the Geelong Supercats by just five points, but some previous losses have seen much bigger margins.
Against the Seahawks the Kookas were victorious to the tune of 35 points, suggesting they have the scoring power to bother the Lakers.
But Mount Gambier’s defensive efforts should overcome that, with the Lakers keeping opposition sides to low totals so far this season, apart from Round 1 against the Supercats where Geelong managed 91 points in a high-scoring game.
The Lakers hit back with 101 in that contest to claim the win.
The Kookas do have one danger man around the hoop – Nathan Lemke – who currently averages 27.4 points per game.
He comes off a double-header weekend where he managed 22 points in a win over Terang Tornadoes, followed by 25 in a loss against Geelong.
The Lakers will need to keep him in check, but at the same time there is no shortage of scorers in the Mount Gambier side.
De Wit leads the charge with an average of 20.57 points per game, while Hunter is close behind with 19.75.
In fact, a total of six Lakers average double figures, which provides some real firepower around the basket.
It will be the last home game for the Lakers in 2018, with their next fixture at the Icehouse on January 6, 2019.
The game tips off at 7pm.
