By Jonty Ralphsmith
Pakenham’s Big V men’s side are two from two to begin their new season!
The Warriors won a see-sawing affair against Shepparton on Sunday, in an afternoon where there were as many lead changes as loud cheers at Cardinia Life.
Joe Davis sunk 25 points to go with nine rebounds, and had two plays in the last 30 seconds which got the Warriors over the line.
Trailing by two points, Davis tipped one in with 28 seconds to go to give Pakenham the lead, before executing a three-pointer with seven seconds left which gave Pakenham a two-point lead.
Shepparton then had one crack to tie the scores, but missed the jump shot, cuing vocal celebrations on-court and in the stands.
Young point-guard Michael Johns continues to impress, playing more than 25 minutes, having also played the previous day in the Youth League.
Joshua Dow also contributed with 16 points.
Next up is a trip to Doncaster to battle Bulleen, which currently sits at 1-2.
The Warriors’ women are still looking for their first win of the season after an 84-74 loss to Bulleen.
The Warriors fell behind by nine at the main break and despite periods of ascendancy, were only able to break-even in the second half on the scoreboard.
Haille Nickerson got 13 points, eight rebounds and six assists while skipper Mel Prior and Samantha Romanowski also had moments in what was an even team performance — though no-one was able to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and get them over the line.
The women are still adjusting to a new game plan and method of moving the ball under first-year coach Robertus Dielemans, who brings a wealth of experience.
They’ll get the opportunity to bounce back this week with a pair of home matches: against McKinnon, which has won one of its two matches, and Hume, which is one from three.
The Youth League men recorded a win and a loss from their two matches on the weekend.
On Saturday, they were pipped in the last second by two points against Mornington.
They trailed by five points with 40 seconds to go after Cooper Lanting committed a personal foul and Mornington converted both their free throws before a timeout.
Jarred Small then executed a three-point jump shot and Johns sunk two, to get it back to level-pegging in the last 20 seconds.
In an error-laden frantic final few seconds which saw all three free throw attempts across the two sides miss, it was Mornington’s Mitchell Bates Webb who got the last points of the game after a Hayden Melsen turnover in the dying seconds.
The following day, Pakenham put on a clinic against Wangaratta.
A 36-7 start gave Pakenham an unassailable lead and they kept the foot to the throttle long after.
Jackson Grey scored 25 points and Small 21 in the confidence-boosting victory where 12 players got court time.
The women, meanwhile went down 73-59 to Coburg.
The Warriors were always playing catch up after a weak first quarter while a third-quarter lapse made sure of the result for Collingwood.
Tyla Scorah bucketed 17 points while Chloe Zielinski got a team-high eight rebounds.
They got as close as nine points away in the final stanza but never looked like reeling the lead in, after slipping too far behind.
Next up for the girls is McKinnon.
