By RUSSELL BENNETT
THE Pakenham Warriors Big V basketballers got a rude awakening at the hands of local rivals, the Casey Cavaliers on Saturday night – destroyed by 22 points, 98-76.
There was plenty of hype surrounding the first local derby of the year but the contest proved a real fizzer from the outset as the Cranbourne-based Cavs took the Warriors to school.
Casey led by 15 points at the first change before the margin was cut to just nine after the Warriors briefly grabbed the momentum.
Yet, typical of Pakenham’s night, the Warriors turned the ball over on a fastbreak only to watch the Cavs convert an and-one play at the other end. By the half the margin had exploded out to 26 points.
Warriors coach Ryan Rogers took a stand by benching his starters for the vast majority of the second half, while Casey stars Matt Witherden (10 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists), Dean Johnson (9 points and 10 rebounds) and Matt Pebole (20 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists) consistently found easy buckets in the paint.
Stewart Baird’s Cavs were making the extra pass and finding the open man at will. They were simply monstering their rivals Pakenham, while at the other end only Lee Belton (14 points and 6 rebounds in just 12 minutes) and Bill Winder (12 points and 7 rebounds) found open space with any sort of regularity. Craig Drew was at his disruptive best defensively, and Sean Armstrong and Savin Lopez showed promising signs on their return to the Warriors line-up, but that’s where the positives stopped for Pakenham.
“It was a major letdown,” Rogers said in the wake of the game, adding that Belton’s team-mates could learn a thing or two from the teenager’s willingness to commit on both ends of the floor.
“We anticipated he wouldn’t suit up because of work and he missed training all week, but he led us in scoring and was a rebound shy of leading us in that too – all in just 12 minutes.
“It was a testament to all the work he’s put in to continually improve.”
The Warriors reached most of their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), yet still lost by a huge margin and Rogers put that down terrible man defence for the bulk of the night.
“Teams will just put you to the sword if you don’t show up,” he said.
The Warriors will be out to atone for their performance against the Cavs when they return to the Colosseum at Cardinia Life this Saturday night from 8.15pm to face Maccabi in a must-win contest.
