BASKETBALL

CBL

BY BLAKE METCALF-HOLT

 

ANOTHER exciting Country Basketball Season is upon us, with many of the Latrobe Valley men’s and women’s teams restocked with plenty of talent to see who’ll be crowned Gippsland champions by season’s end.

In the men’s division, Traralgon started their campaign off with two emphatic wins across the weekend, beginning on Saturday, taking down Morwell, 108 to 96 at Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium (GRISS).

While the final score perhaps indicated a more or less easy victory for the T-Birds, the first three quarters proved otherwise, as the game proceeded to go back-and-forth throughout.

Traralgon managed to get the upper hand after the first term to lead by one point before the Magic responded to go into halftime with that slim margin after a 12-4 run to finish the first half off the back of Kelvin Austin.

As play returned, the contest remained close before Traralgon’s Koby Tibballs ballooned the margin out for his T-Birds to nine points midway through the third quarter.

While Morwell stemmed some of the bleeding, Traralgon still entered the final turn ahead 80-73.

The trio of Tibballs, Zac Bezzina, and Dejay Ansell immediately pushed their lead above double figures to begin the last quarter, which automatically gave the T-Birds the necessary space.

The Magic continued to fight, but couldn’t get over the 10-point hump as Traralgon notched the first win on the season.

Bezzina (24), Ansell (21), and Tibballs (21) combined for 66 points for the T-Birds, while Mitch Evans also added 19.

Austin led the charge for Morwell with 24 points with William Tankard next best with 21.

Traralgon then more convincingly surpassed Lakes Entrance on Sunday, 97-79 at GRISS.

A 26-16 first quarter created the gap for the T-Birds to work with however, the Pelicans did give them a run for their money as the game opened up in the second half.

After fighting to break into their deficit, Lakes Entrance got the margin back to five points before Traralgon realised they needed to see the game out.

Tibballs arrived again for the T-Birds, hitting some timely shots to push their lead back out to double digits, where it remained through to the end.

The aforementioned Tibballs (27 points), Bezzina (26), and Ansell (24) were again at their best.

Morwell collected their first win on Sunday against Southern Peninsula, 97-69 at Latrobe Leisure Morwell.

The Magic asserted themselves to open the game, playing at their best during the first half to lead by 24 points at the main break.

While the Sharks picked up during the third quarter, Morwell finished the game off well to finish ahead by the most all day.

Tankard and Matthew Yeates tallied 21 points each for the Magic, followed by Jordan Canovan with 15.

On the other side of Gippsland, last year’s grand finalists Warragul did battle with Moe on Saturday night, with the Warriors coming out on top in overtime, 99-93 at Warragul Leisure Centre.

While Warragul did start the game off with a 9-1 lead, the Meteors were the ones that appeared most settled to begin each of their year’s, finishing the opening quarter ahead by six points.

The Warriors put their heads down and got to work, putting on a 15-4 run through to the middle mark of the second quarter, forcing a Moe timeout.

Returning Meteor Austin Shelley (who spent time this year with NBL team Cairns Taipans as a training player) got the margin back closer with some tough drives into the paint, but Warragul subdued to still lead by six points entering halftime.

Moe seemed to be finding their groove as the game picked up in the third quarter, finally tying the score up at the three-minute mark and then taking the lead.

Rohan Demczuk drilled a crowd-pleasing corner three-pointer on the buzzer to give Moe a five-point cushion heading into the final term, but they were penalised with a taunting technical foul which gave the Warriors a free throw after the end of the third quarter.

As the game continued to go shot-for-shot as the fourth quarter deepened, the chippy-ness of the matchup only grew, with the two rivals not prepared to give an inch.

Warragul’s Jordan Gooiker finished a tough reverse layup to tie the game 85-all at the one minute 20-mark, which signified the final score of regular time.

Missed shots and critical stops played out in the next few possessions, which included Shelley being forced into a backcourt violation as Moe attempted their final shot, and then Meteors big man Stephen O’Brien getting high enough to see Warragul’s George Morgan miss the potential winning basket on the final buzzer.

As overtime started, scores continued to be hard to come by, but Warriors young gun Riley Morehu opened the game up with a deep three midway through the period.

Each team continued to miss shots, and as Moe had their chance to tie the game up with seconds remaining, Gooiker picked the pocket of the Meteors’ Tom Portbury, seeing Warragul come out victors.

Morehu and Murray Myers both finished with 26 points for Warragul, while Shelley also scored 26, with O’Brien next best with 17.

Moe took out their frustrations the next day, travelling to Bass Coast Community Stadium and taking down Wonthaggi by 42 points.

While the Meteors were taking things a little lightly to begin with, they still entered halftime ahead by 15 points however, pouring on 38 points in the third quarter alone blew the game right out of the water.

During that period, from the nine-minute mark of that term to the next break, Moe went on a 35-9 run to be ahead by almost 40 points.

Shelley totalled 28 points with six threes, while Josh Parkinson (20) and Portbury (15) were also stellar.

 

IN the women’s division, Morwell began their year taking down Traralgon on Saturday, 64-61 at GRISS.

This was Traralgon’s first game in nearly two years, as they did not enter a women’s side last season.

The Magic started impressively, entering halftime ahead by 16 points before the T-Birds made their move.

Traralgon held Morwell to just six points in the third quarter, while adding 18 in their own right to bring the margin back to four points entering the final term.

Cassie Davis knocked down consecutive threes for Traralgon to tie the game up before teammate Hannah Smith pushed the T-Birds into the lead for the first time.

Traralgon looked to be with all the momentum and secure their first victory in well over a year, before Morwell’s Olivia Ouchirenko drilled a massive three at the two-minute mark to bring the margin back to a point.

Kayla Welsh then hit the go ahead bucket before Abbey Noblett finished off at the free throw line for Morwell to see out the win.

Ouchirenko and Carmen Albrecht led the way for the Magic with 13 points each, while Marley Alimpic and Lexi Cruse both scored 11 for Traralgon.

Morwell continued their winning through to the end of the weekend, with a spirted come-from-behind victory over Southern Peninsula on Sunday, 65-59 at Latrobe Leisure Morwell.

After trailing 17-4 at the end of the first quarter, the Magic stormed into the lead during the third quarter and held on for their second win of the year.

Noblett led the charge with 19 points, followed by Welsh with 16.

Moe split at the weekend, first with a loss to Warragul, 66-57 at Warragul Leisure Centre on Saturday, and then victorious over Wonthaggi, 69-46 at Bass Coast Community Stadium on Sunday.

While the Metoers couldn’t get over the line to close out against the Warriors, they did all their damage against the Coasters early (inclusive of a 21-7 second term) to add their first win of the year.

Piper Albert had 20 points, followed by 17 from Tahni Hodgens against Wonthaggi.