By Jonty Ralphsmith
We’ve seen this before.
Unfortunately for Pakenham’s men they again went down to Gippsland on the weekend, the same opponent which got them 2-0 in the division two men’s grand final series last year.
Michael Johns had the chance to be the hero and sink a three pointer in the last play of the game but the shot fell just short with Gippsland prevailing by two points in the fierce local rivalry.
Nonetheless, it was among the strongest performances Johns has produced at the level after tearing it up in the Youth League last season.
The Warriors did well to even have the chance to snatch it, for they didn’t lead at all in the final six minutes and trailed by six points with 53 seconds left on the clock.
The hosts were, however, able to cause turnovers and take their opportunities which led to a thrilling climax.
Overall, Gippsland took Pakenham away from its usual method which made it difficult and ultimately led to a frustrating result for a team which was coming off an impressive win against Warrnambool.
Big man Matt Berkec added a touch of class for the Warriors.
A Warriors junior, he moved to Western Australia to pursue his basketball at a higher level, playing NBL1 which shines through on the court at Big V level.
He covers the court well, is good on the rebound and shoots well.
Josh Dow and Joe Davis combined for 54 of the Warriors 97 points while Josh Norton, who played 11 minutes, also earned praise from coach Rob Roberts.
The men backed up the following day against Collingwood and recorded a strong 23-point win.
The coach attributed the drowsy 19-26 first quarter to fatigue from a fast and physical game the previous day.
Once they found their mojo, though, Pakenham was far too good, allowing Collingwood only 35 points in the second half.
The game was mostly played on Pakenham’s terms with Dow playing a role with his shooting and transition work and sinking 28 points.
The women also had an impressive win on Saturday night, over Hume.
Pleasingly, the Warriors were able to close out a tight one, having been so close on many previous occasions.
Trailing by five at the final break, the women got up 74-67.
Haille Nickerson scored 29 points and earned praise from her coach for making some key shots and playing with hustle, standing up when the game was on the line.
“They played calmly, were disciplined, defensively active and strong offensively,” said coach Rob Dielemans.
“They identified what they needed to do offensively and stuck to the structure rather than going for the run and gun.”
That followed a third stanza where the Warriors were outscored by seven points due to poor shot selection and single-sided and rushed offence.
Pakenham wasn’t able to back it up the following day with the game essentially over by halftime, Wyndham winning 88-45.
It gave Dielemans the opportunity to get game time into younger players such as Stella O’Loughlin, Hayley Letts, Rhiannon Gallagher and Chloe Zielinski.
Meanwhile, the youth league women went down in both their matches on the weekend.
Eltham restricted the visitors to just 21 points after halftime, winning 76-49.
Wyndham jumped Ben Gaze’s women early the following day in a 69-55 win despite Tyla Scorah scoring 12 points to go with eight rebounds and three steals.
The youth league men were better than Bellarine for the first three quarters, prevailing by only six points owing to a poor finish.
The Warriors again won the first three quarters the following day before taking the foot off the accelerator late against Wallan.
The two wins are important for the youth league men, which had a 3-4 record entering the weekend.
