By Jonty Ralphsmith
A big second quarter proved decisive for Pakenham in a 14-point defeat of Warrnambool.
In front a sellout Warriors-heavy crowd at Cardinia Life, Rob Roberts’ men roared to life in the second quarter after conceding the first 10 points of the game to go into quarter time behind.
A 31-14 stanza put the hosts on the front foot in the second half in an 83-69 win.
Joe Davis shot his two pointers at 75 per cent, while Matt Berkec, Elias Kafrouni and Kasseka Mpota also made good of their opportunities.
Michael Johns, coming off the bench, was impressive with 14 points and five defensive rebounds.
“It’s something we discussed with him during the week,” said Roberts of Johns hitting the scoreboard.
“He is a genuine shooter and that was part of the reason we brought him into the team.
“We need him to go out and hit those buckets, and especially the big threes we know he’s capable of.”
The coach felt like his team effectively combated the threat of Jamal Pollydore, who finished with 17 points, one rebound and two assists.
“He didn’t worry me too much,” Roberts said.
“He is going to get off the leash and do some scoring, but we played a good lockdown role on him for most of the game.
“‘Norto’ (Josh Norton) was on him at one stage, Ned (Weideman) had him for most of the game and even MJ (Michael Johns) went to him.
“We rotated the boys through him and we think that frustrated him a little bit and played into our hands.”
Next up for Pakenham is fierce rival Gippsland, which will be looking to bounce back from a 94-55 humiliation at the hands of RMIT Redbacks.
Pakenham lost to Gippsland 76-66 on 15 July, with Stephen O’Brien scoring 20 points.
“We think we’re right in it with Gippsland,” Roberts said.
“It generally is only a quarter or so that it gets away from us.
“We’ve got to tidy up some things overall.
“O’Brien seems to play his best games against us, that’s something we’ve got to manage.
“Defensively, we do very well on him but we struggle to score against him.
“We’ve got to find ways around that so Joe (Davis) can do what he does and get help from the other boys.
“They will want to be proving they should be there, so the hope is we’ve got the energy and legs to go through.
“We know we’ve got the talent, but they will want to show everybody that Gippsland still has it over us and that’s something for us to overcome.”
The game is at Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday at 7pm.
