There’s nothing better than getting bragging rights by dominating your rival.
And that’s exactly what the Pakenham Warriors Men got after demolishing local enemies Warragul on Saturday night at Cardinia Life in round two of the Country Basketball League (CBL).
In a rematch of last year’s CBL grand final, the Warriors imposed themselves from the opening tip, creating a 24-15 buffer at the first break.
The lead continued to swell in the second as Pakenham piled on 34 points in the term to lead 56-36 at the half.
The third followed a similar pattern and was all Warriors as Braden Venning’s side ran out to a 112-70 victory that saw Pakenham hoist the ‘Warrior Cup’.
Cody Fredrickson top scored with 26 points but healthy contributions from Callum McNiff (16 points), Mitch Zeunert (16 points), Matt Berkec (12 points), Linden Moon (11 points) and Jackson Grey (10 points) bolstered a deep performance.
“When you put up 112 points and only hit five threes, you’re doing pretty well,” head coach Venning said.
“We had lots of dunks in there, it was really good to have that.
“You can see how fun it is and how well they’re playing together and it’s only round two.
“It’s that everybody eats mentality, we play that conceptual motion where the ball’s going to move.
“We’re going to find guys in the right areas, it’s just up to the guys to hit the shots.
“The transition as well, we really locked in on defence in big portions of that game that led to easy transition buckets.
“It was that defence to offence that we were looking for.
“To keep them to 70 is pretty solid when you’re putting up 112 yourself.”
The Warriors are going to be a force to be reckoned with this CBL season as Warragul are considered one of the top contenders for the premiership.
Whilst it was a good feeling to start 2-0, Venning noted there was a little bit of extra motivation against the local rivals.
“It’s always good (to win), especially when it’s a grand final rematch,” he said.
“It was a lot of forcing them into harder shots.
“We’ve worked a lot on our coverages over the last few weeks and we tightened up on a few things this week.
“When we made our biggest run, it was just defensive pressure and hands in the lane.
“We had lots of tipped passes that led to breakout layups.
“It’s really cool to see one through 12, we had our full squad.
“Everyone steps up, everyone plays a part and everyone had a taste of that success.”
Warragul walked away with the victory in the women’s bracket, knocking off Pakenham on its home court 61-55.
The visitors controlled the contest for the first three quarters, opening up a 45-30 advantage at three quarter time.
But the hosts clawed back into it with Chelsea Schreuder leading the charge.
Back-to-back late Schreuder triples had Pakenham within a possession, but Beth Quadara nailed the dagger from downtown to sink any comeback hopes.
Schreuder finished with 18 points while Alysha Marcucci dropped 20 for the victors.
In round three, both Pakenham outfits are back at home against Morwell.
