By Lachlan Onions
IN a contest which went down to the wire, the Waverley Falcons came up clutch when it mattered most and defeated the Mount Gambier Pioneers men’s team on Friday night.
The Pioneers got off to the worst possible start as they found themselves down 11-2 just four minutes into the contest.
However, a 10-point opening quarter from Nick Marshall meant Mount Gambier trailed by just two points at quarter-time.
Mount Gambier began to kick into gear in the second term and took a three-point lead at the main break.
Despite having momentum in their favour, the Pioneers were no match for the Falcons in the third quarter.
Waverley fought back to take a nine-point lead late in the period before the hosts managed to reduce the deficit to four points with one quarter to play.
The final quarter started as a slugfest as the lead shifted back and forth on almost every possession.
The Falcons drew level with a two-pointer from Michael Harper to make it 71-71 with just under four minutes left to play.
Over the next two and a half minutes, neither side could find a breakthrough bucket as both defences held firm and gave nothing to their opposition.
With just over one minute to play, Dilon Stith stood tall and scored a crunch-time basket for Waverley.
This was his second successive go-ahead bucket in as many games after he hit a game-winning buzzer-beater only five days earlier against North West Tasmania.
The Pioneers then failed to score on their next possession and the Falcons had the chance to put the dagger in and make it a two-possession game with time running low.
Harper attempted a three-pointer for the visitors which missed before Julian Pesava grabbed the defensive rebound, only to have the ball snatched from his hands by Bennie Lewis.
As a result, Lewis scored a wide-open dunk to make it a four-point game with 30 seconds left to play.
From there, it was always going to be an uphill battle for the Pioneers as they then failed to score on their next possession which ended any hopes of a miraculous win.
The 77-71 defeat was the men’s team’s first loss in their new arena after going unbeaten in their first three games at Wulanda.
The Marshall brothers led the way for the Pioneers as Nick scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for a double-double, while Dylan notched up 13 points off the bench.
Mount Gambier also had its first glance at Leonard Harper-Baker, who took to the court for the first time as a Pioneer.
Harper-Baker showed some promising signs in his debut with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Despite going winless in their last three games, Mount Gambier remains in a strong position on the ladder in fourth place, just one game behind the second-placed Eltham Wildcats.
The Pioneers will be back in action at Wulanda on Friday night when they take on the Sandringham Sabres in a blockbuster clash.
