A resounding opening round for the Pakenham Warriors in the Country Basketball League (CBL) saw both outfits grab dominant wins over Maffra.
In the men’s bracket, an electric and high-octane second half blew away the Eagles at home.
At quarter time, the Warriors led 26-18 before Maffra responded on its home court.
The Eagles cut the deficit and got within one with just minutes remaining in the half, before a dominant 18-2 run to close out the second quarter had Pakenham stretch the difference out to 51-34 at the main break.
The Warriors tightened their defence in the third, restricting scoring avenues for the hosts, holding them to just seven points in the term while the buffer ballooned.
When the buzzer sounded to end the third, Pakenham led 82-41.
The massive margin allowed head coach Braden Venning the luxury to be able to play a number of the younger guys in the squad, including under-16s talents Nathan Zanelli and James Tritt.
A steady fourth period ensured the Warriors won imposingly, jumping out to a 110-65 demolition of the Eagles.
Mitch Zeunert was productive with 16 points and Jackson Grey and Cody Fredrickson both scored 10.
“It starts and ends with defence, when we get defensive stops, it makes it easier,” coach Venning said.
“That’s where our big run came from.
“A lot of it came through transition but getting consistent defensive stops, running the break and we hit a lot of open shots which was good.
“It’s the first game as an actual cohesive unit so we’ve got to blow out the rust a little bit and learn to play together.
“It was good to see us in the back end of the game really stretch away, we got lots of exposure to our younger junior guys so it was really good to see.”
Rising guard Linden Moon impressed by top scoring with 19 points.
Moon was a development player in Venning’s Youth League side this season and his coach was extremely pleased to see him shine.
“You see guys like Linden take that next step, he’s going to be a problem for years to come,” Venning said.
“He is so good, he’s so hard to guard and it’s really cool to see him step into a bigger opportunity and make the most of it.
“It’s really good to see the young guys taking those opportunities and we’ve surrounded them with high quality players like Cody Fredrickson, Cal McNiff and Berko (Matt Berkec) when he comes in.
“That’s where we have the benefit of the country system, we can have our senior guys and mix them with juniors and everyone gets an opportunity to learn from each other and grow together.”
The Women’s squad also banked a commanding win over Maffra, riding a strong first half to win 90-61.
The Warriors operated well offensively through the first two quarters, leading 50-31 at the main intermission.
Scoring wasn’t as proficient in the second half but the defensive intensity never wavered as Pakenham didn’t allow Maffra to score more than 17 points in a period for the entire game.
Rhiannon Gallagher was on fire from deep as she posted 23 points and six triples for the Warriors.
Chelsea Schreuder showed her class with 17 points while Hayley Letts added 14.
Both Warriors squads will face Warragul this week at Cardinia Life in the ‘Warrior Cup’.
The men’s matchup is a rematch of last year’s grand final and Warragul comes in as the reigning champs in the women’s section.
