By Trevor Jackson
ON a dramatic night of basketball, the Mount Gambier Pioneers men dropped their first game of the 2022 NBL1 South season, with a heartbreaking one-point defeat at the hands of the Geelong Supercats on Friday night.
The Pioneers welcomed new import player Clevon Brown to the floor, while the much-anticipated return of Tom Daly had hopes of remaining undefeated high.
Unfortunately Daly could only manage around nine minutes of court time as he still struggled to recover from a bout of Covid.
However, the Pioneers were right in the contest throughout, with the likes of Michael Harris, Jordan Rawls and Nick Marshall in good touch.
The game see-sawed, with the Pioneers winning the first term, the Supercats the second, then the Pioneers the third to set up an enticing final stanza.
The packed house was not disappointed, as the two sides traded blows, with Brown the first to score in the last quarter to tie the game up just seconds into the period.
The Supercats hit back through Owen Odigie, before Harris added one free throw to keep in touch.
Kane deWit hit a three to claim the lead, before Rawls also drained a triple and the Pioneers were up by four.
After four minutes of play the Pioneers’ lead had stretched out to 10 points off an Erik Burdon three and looked in the box seat.
Demarcus Gatlin hit back with a pairs of layups for Geelong, before two threes to Gabriel Hadley, split by a two-point layup from deWit had the visitors right back in the game.
Jack White was the talking point of the night, as the future Australian star made his presence felt, first with a timely two-point jumper, then a triple to put Geelong up with just two minutes on the clock.
As it panned out it was the last shot of the match and it was enough for Geelong to claim the one-point victory.
At the end of the day Harris top scored with 24 points, while Rawls (15) and Marshall (12) also reached double figures for the home side.
On the back of the loss the Pioneers slipped down to second place on the ladder, just trailing the Supercats, with both sides suffering just one loss this season.
Coach Richard Hill said he expected a tough contest against the Supercats, which clearly did not disappoint.
“They put a good lineup on the floor which we knew,” he said.
“Some of our stuff was really good and we had a patch through the middle of the game we were outstanding – we went from seven down to 10 up.
“We played about as good as we could against a really good team and amongst that we made a few mistakes.
“You can’t do that against a good team but even then we only lost by one too many mistakes or one not enough made shots.”
The result showed what the Pioneers are up against this season and what standard of basketball they bring to the floor.
Had one of those late shots dropped, the scenario would be so different.
Jack White was one major factor in the Geelong win, as he made a couple of crucial baskets down the stretch to put the Supercats in a winning position.
However, the last couple of minutes of play certainly showed how tough it was to score on the night.
“We couldn’t score in the last two-and-a-half minutes, then they couldn’t score in the last two minutes,” Hill said.
“It was playoff-style basketball, it was really hard and was a great game.
“On top of the girls game, it was a great night of basketball.”
The Pioneers face another test at home Saturday night when they welcome former NBL club Melbourne Tigers, with Australian basketball royalty Andrew Gaze at the helm.
The Tigers have struggled this season, currently languishing down in 15th place with a 2/5 win/loss record but Hill is under no illusion it will be an easy contest, or any future game for that matter.
“Andrew Gaze has his young Melbourne Tigers team playing pretty good basketball,” he said.
“They haven’t been winning much but he has them playing a good style of basketball, so it will be an exciting game again.
“There will be a lot more high-level players coming to town over the season.
“I like that people in Mount Gambier can see high-level sport without having to fly to Adelaide or Melbourne or drive five hours.
“That is a massive boost for our local people if they want to watch some high-level sport.”
As for the ability of the Pioneers to stand up against the pressure, Hill had no doubts.
“No one is going to walk over our team,” he said.
“They are too tough mentally and have too much talent.
“We will be in every game, I have no doubt about that.”
