By Trevor Jackson
THE Mount Gambier Pioneers men were never really troubled in their NBL1 South Round 11 clash with the Hobart Chargers on Friday night at Wulanda.
However, the 96-70 victory was tight in the opening half, before the Pioneers made a statement, began to apply scoreboard pressure off some stifling defence and ran away with the contest.
The Pioneers took a one-point lead to the first break and began to methodically stretch the margin throughout the game.
The lead swapped and changed several times during the opening term, with the Chargers building a seven-point lead mid-way through the quarter.
Threes to Akech Aliir and Titus Robinson kept the scores tight, while it took a late two-point basket from Nick Marshall to take the lead back, with the smallest of margins separating the two sides at the first break.
A 7-0 run early in the second term saw the Pioneers open a handy eight-point advantage, finished with a Robinson dunk to get the crowd on their feet.
The Pioneers continued to push hard, but the Chargers had not made the trip to the mainland to go home empty handed and with five minutes to play in the term, tied the game up.
That success was short-lived, but again the Chargers levelled the game up.
With three minutes to play in the term and the Pioneers up by a solitary point, a triple to Kane deWit, followed by another Robinson dunk opened the margin again.
Hobart got to within three points of the Pioneers with just two minutes in the term, before the home side hit back.
A Marshall two, followed by a jump shot and dunk from Christian Peevy, then a Marshall tip-in buzzer-beater saw the Pioneers head to the long break with an 11 point lead.
An early flurry in the third term saw the Pioneers stretch the margin to as much as 20 points with only four minutes played, before the Chargers knew what happened.
The Chargers worked hard to stop the rot, but made little inroads into the deficit, with the Pioneers up by 17 points at the final break.
From there it was too much of a margin for the Chargers to close, as they lost the quarter by nine points and the game by 26.
Peevy and Robinson topped the scoresheets for the victors with 21 points and five rebounds each.
Robinson chipped with with three steals, while Peevy had four.
Marshall finished with a double-double, 18 points and 13 rebounds, along with three assists.
Austin Shelley also reached double figures, with 11 points and seven assists.
Coach Richard Hill quite simply said it was a pleasing result.
“We played very well, which was very pleasing,” he said.
“They made a good start and made a lot of tough shots early.
“I could see we were playing well and our defence was rock solid.
“We kept them to 70 points and 28 in the second half, which was outstanding.”
Along with the tight defence, Hill said there were contributions across the board from his players.
“Titus played well and Christian had his best game of the season,” he said.
“Nick was his usual self, but didn’t stand out as much because everyone else had a good game too.
“I couldn’t find a lot of fault with it.”
One statistic which does not often get a mention is the amount of steals.
While Peevy and Robinson racked up seven between them, the whole team had 14 steals.
“We had 14 steals and just six turnovers for the game, which is massive,” Hill said.
“That is rare to get that many steals and it was an indication of our strong defence.
“We were very aggressive on defence.
“We have been talking about that a lot and we have been getting better.”
Tom Daly returned to the floor and Hill said he played well.
He also had a full week of training leading up to the game and has pulled up well, ready for the coming road double.
That adds plenty of pressure to the Pioneers, despite sitting second on the ladder.
“We need to win three of our last five to get first or second on the ladder,” Hill said.
“That would be fantastic.”
