It was a tough night on Friday for the Castec Rural Pioneers as the Casey Cavaliers came to town and took the win in a thrilling NBL1 South conference match that went right down to the wire.
The night started on a high note as Pioneers captain Kane de Wit was honoured with a special ceremony before the game to mark his 200th game for the club.
It was a fairly even match in the first period as both sides got into the groove of the game early on and popped some points on the board.
Mount Gambier found a lot of success in the paint, which was where the bulk of their first quarter points came from as they had to work for every shot due to a high intensity Casey defence which would prove to be a major theme on the night.
After the first term the Pioneers held a four point lead.
In the second term the Cavs hit back hard as their defence and rebounding ability caused some major issues for the Pioneers as they struggled to get much going offensively.
The Pioneers finished the quarter with only 13 points but luckily their defence kept them in the game, keeping Casey to only 20.
After a low scoring first half, Casey held the lead as the Pioneers headed to the locker room trailing by three.
The third term was another grind for both sides as every shot had to be earned as the Pioneers and the Cavaliers played some impressive defence.
The Mount Gambier Pioneers struggled from behind the arc in the third period as they went two for eight.
The Pioneers’ lack of rebounding was problematic as Casey had several second chance points from offensive rebounds which helped the Cavs build a five point lead heading into the final term.
Pioneers new recruit Kaden Archie was electric in the final term and helped his side get back into the game, scoring 10 points in the quarter.
Despite the late push, rebounding proved to be the main contributor for the Pioneers’ loss as Casey continued to dominate the boards, recording nine second chance points in the final term.
Casey finished the game with 54 rebounds while the Pioneers only had 39.
Mount Gambier had a chance to come away with the win in the final moments of the game, however Joe Palmer could not make magic twice after hitting a big three to cut Casey’s lead to one, unable to knock down the final shot in the last seconds of the game, with the visitors winning 81-80.
Akech Aliir led the team in scoring, finishing with 21 points while Archie had 15 with Titus Robinson and Alex Mundronja chipping in with 11 each.
Pioneers captain Kane de Wit said after the game that it was good to play his 200th game at home in front of the fans and his family.
“It’s pretty awesome, it’s my son’s first game, he’s three months old so it’s pretty special that it’s managed to fall on my 200th game for the club,” he said.
“It’s obviously not the result we wanted but we will learn from this and go into next week.”
de Wit thought the side improved their performance in the second half of the match but overall simply could not match what Casey brought.
“I think we were better in the second half,” he said.
“I think our first half was pretty poor, just letting them dictate the flow of the game too much and letting them do what they wanted to do and not meeting their physicality.
“We will learn from that and hopefully get better next week.”
After being dominated on the boards de Wit said the side needs to be better as a group at rebounding.
“We’re quite a small team across the board,” he said.
“We need to do a better job as a group rebounding and not letting their wings and guards jump up and come over the top of our bigs and get the rebound.
“So we need to do a better job as a collective.”
The Pioneers host a double header on Friday and Saturday night as Sandringham and Eltham come to town.
