James Murphy
AN understaffed Millicent Magic men put in a hearty performance against Country Basketball League ladder leader Ararat Redbacks on Saturday night.
Kade Bradley was the only starting five player available, but the Magic still held on for a 94-70 point loss on the road.
“We got a side together, which was the main focus for the weekend,” Millicent coach Darren Dean said.
“They got out to a 15-0 start in the first five minutes.
“We called a timeout at that stage and just tried to settle them down a bit.
“A couple of the boys were playing their first or second games.
“After that point we played on our terms and slowed it down a little bit.”
From there on the Magic put in a solid effort and kept the scoreline respectable.
Up until the final three minutes the margin was under 20 points, but a quick finish from the Redbacks pushed it out to 24.
Kade Bradley did most of the heavy lifting on the scoreboard, with a game-high 32 points, while Kieron Rigney (10 points) and Cade Kelly (9) were the next best.
“The focus was on trying to contain (Ararat),” Dean said.
“They have Zac Dunmore who is the gun of the comp, so a couple of the young ones were put on him all day.
“He was going to score, no doubt about that, but it was a good opportunity to learn.
“It was a game where realistically they could have won by 50-plus points.”
Dunmore managed just 15 points on the night, while it was the rounded performance of Fletcher Burder (21 points), Ethan Fiegert (20), James Conroy (12) and Wilbur Shea (12) which proved too much in the end.
The win secured top place for the Redbacks prior to finals in a couple of weeks, while for Millicent it will all come down to this weekend to determine whether they make the top four.
The final game of the minor rounds will have the Magic visit the Surfcoast Coasters.
Simply put, if Millicent wins, it will knock Portland out of contention and book itself a place in the 2022-23 CBL finals.
“It is all in our court now,” Dean said.
“We will get Jack Haggett and Jackson Bowden back from the state Under 18’s and will try and work on a few others as well.
“It will be nice if we can get through and have two men’s and two women’s teams from SA through to the finals.”
