By RUSSELL BENNETT
THE Pakenham Warriors men’s side officially locked up fifth spot on the Big V basketball Division 2 ladder on Saturday night and are now playoff-bound.
After a somewhat sluggish opening few minutes of the first quarter, Jeff Reid’s men stormed away from the North East Bushrangers to record an emphatic 41-point win, 84-43 at The Colosseum at Cardinia Life.
The Warriors shot just 32 per cent from the field but they forced the Bushrangers into a whopping 27 turnovers in a stellar display of pressure defence.
Reid’s men also defended the perimeter particularly well, with the visitors draining just one of their 16 three-point attempts for the game.
In another even contribution across the board, guard Darren Galloway led the Pakenham side with 23 points, 8 boards and 3 steals while Hayden Davey finished with 22 points and 6 rebounds.
Sean Armstrong (12 points, 9 boards) also impressed with a near double-double while Darrell Morgan, Harry Van Dort, Paul Phillips and the tight-checking defence of Mike Godfrey also had a huge impact.
“It took us four or five minutes to get going but from that five-minute mark of the first quarter onwards we got it going and the guys re-focussed from that point on,” Reid said.
“The thing about our squad is that we’re so versatile.
“We can score both inside and out and we’ve got tough guys to guard because there’s such a good spread of scorers as well.”
Reid raved about the Warriors’ vocal home crowd which he said played a big part in the side’s momentum continuing to roll on throughout the game.
While the Warriors won the rebound battle by just one in the end (51-50), they did a stellar job of keeping the Bushrangers off the offensive glass.
“We made a point of that at the start of the game,” Reid said.
“They’re a good rebounding team and they’ve got some bigs that do a lot of good work around the paint area.
“To not let those guys get those easy second chance opportunities made a hell of a difference on the scoreboard.
“They were getting looks early on around the bucket but we took those away from them and they found it really tough to score.”
Next up for the Warriors is their final game of the regular season – at home this Sunday from 3pm against Oakleigh.
And Reid is hell-bent on keeping his side focussed on that clash before looking ahead to the playoffs.
“I’ve been thinking about the game, but we’ve still got one more week and I expect to win that as well,” he said.
“It should be a strong hitout.”
After leading by five points the end of the first on Saturday, the Warriors Big V women’s team ultimately lost by 30, 66-36.
They’ll look to pick up their first win of the season when they host Blackburn in the curtain raiser on Sunday from 1pm.
