The OneFortyOne Pioneers will return to their home court tomorrow night to host the Nunawading Spectres in round 6 of the NBL1 South conference.


The Pioneers are coming off a tough Victorian double header road trip, where they split their results, after Geelong United inflicted the side’s first loss of the season.


Head coach Matt Sutton said the team was preparing to host yet another tough opponent in the Spectres, after suffering their first loss of the season.


“We were a bit disappointed with some of our stuff against Geelong but we were happy with the bounce back against Bendigo,” he said.


“Both Bendigo as the defending champs and Geelong have some of the best talent in the league, we knew we had our work cut out for the trip.


“We had ourselves in a pretty good position in the game against Geelong, we had a few lapses of discipline, our turnovers led to a lot of points for them … we thought we could have looked after the ball a bit better and given ourselves a shot at winning that game.


“We felt really happy to win against Bendigo, we knew it was going to be a really tough game against an experienced team so we were happy to get that win.”


Sutton said his players regrouped after Saturday night’s loss and took a positive attitude onto the court against Bendigo.


“They were pretty good, I was happy to have a game the next day and I saw a level of frustration and focus and a willingness to rectify those things,” he said.


“Z had a solid weekend, particularly against Bendigo.


“Sherrie kept us in the game against Geelong and had a good game against Bendigo and was a real reason we were able to bounce back on Sunday.


“Sammy Fatkin also had a really good scoring performance on Sunday.”


Sutton said his side’s attention had turned to Nunawading, with the Spectres set to visit Mount Gambier tomorrow night.


“It will be a really tough game, they have had some players out with injury and we expect them to be at full strength,” he said.


“We will have to be at our best.”


Sutton said the team had had a recovery day on Monday before getting back on court on Tuesday, with a tougher session yesterday and a lighter training planned for today.


He said the women were looking forward to returning to their stronghold home court, where they remain undefeated.


“It’s always good to get back home and play in front of our fans,” he said.