Pioneer’s Men


The Castec Rural Pioneers secured another great win on Friday night at the Wulanda Recreation and Convention Centre against the Hobart Chargers.


As the NBL1 South Conference heads to the pointy end of the season the Pioneers sit second on the ladder with a record of 13-4.


Both teams came out firing in the first term on Friday as they went back and forth during the quarter.


Neither side could build a convincing lead in the opening stanza as the Pioneers ended the quarter with a one point lead.


Christian Peevy started strong for Mount Gambier, scoring seven points for the home side.


Early in the second quarter the same story continued as both sides kept up the scoring, with Mount Gambier’s lead remaining small.


It took until half way through the period before the Pioneers began to make their mark on the game, ending the half on a terrific note scoring eight unanswered points to head into the major break with an 11 point lead.


Once again Peevy was on fire in the second quarter, contributing another seven points.


The spectacular Pioneers defence that has been on show during the past few weeks again featured in the second term as they held the Chargers to 17 points.


In the new half, Mount Gambier kept their momentum going as they once again locked down Hobart and held them to 14 points.


The Pioneers offence continued to cause problems for Hobart in the third term as Nick Marshall scored seven points in the quarter and Peevy knocked down eight.


Heading into the final term the Pioneers could see a win in their sights as they held a 17 point lead.


While the Pioneers held a comfortable lead in the fourth they still kept their defensive pressure, refusing to let the Chargers get a sniff of getting back into the game.


Again Mount Gambier held the Chargers to 14 points in the quarter and as the game wrapped up the Pioneers came away with an impressive 26 point win as their win streak improved to four in a row.


Mount Gambier defeated Hobart 96-70.


Peevy had one of his best games of the season, scoring 21 points, grabbing five rebounds and recording four steals.


Nick Marshall had a bit of a quieter night for his standards but still found ways to contribute as he finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds.


Off the bench Titus Robinson was electric for the Pioneers, finishing with 21 points and five rebounds while also throwing down some highlight dunks.


After the game Peevy spoke about how his teammates have helped him find some good form over the past few games.


“It comes down to my teammates trusting me, I had a little bit of a shooting slump and they did not lose faith in me, they were saying that we believe in you and we brought you here because we know you can play – and today it showed what I can do,” he said.


Peevy, who is one of the team’s imports and grew up in the United States, said he had been enjoying his time so far in Mount Gambier.


“I like it really well, it’s nice being somewhere where everyone speaks English, I have been in Croatia where I did not know what anybody was saying so it’s nice, especially Mount Gambier the people are nice and it’s cool,” Peevy said.


Peevy highlighted the importance of Friday night’s win at home after being on the road for several games.


“It’s so important, these fans take a lot of time out of their life to come and watch us play so we owe it to them to give it everything we have and today we showed them what we can do and we just want to keep the ball rolling,” he said.


As the side prepares to head on the road for the last time in the regular season, Peevy said the players had identified what needs to be done as they prepare for back to back away games.


“Just fine-tuning some stuff, even though we had a good game today there were some things that we messed up at so we are going to watch film, fine-tune a few things and keep building on what we have got right now,” he said.


This weekend the Pioneers travel to Nunawading to take on the Spectres for a second time this season on Saturday night before heading to Dandenong to face the Rangers on Sunday afternoon. 


Pioneer’s Women


The OneFortyOne Pioneers women celebrated head coach Matt Sutton’s 100th game in charge with a win, but not before fighting off a fast finishing Hobart Chargers side.


The Pioneers hosted the Tasmanians at Wulanda on Friday night, coming off the back of a double header win the previous week.


Mount Gambier had a solid opening quarter but were outscored in the following three stanzas to cling on for a one point win.


The win has the Pioneers sitting in fourth position on the NBL1 South conference ladder.


Mount Gambier burst out of the blocks in the round 11 clash, with Sherrie Calleia taking only four seconds to score from the tip off.


The sides slogged it out with plenty of back and forth play, while scoring remained slow.


Scores were level at 7-all three minutes into the opening quarter, before the Pioneers kicked it up a notch, going on an 8-0 run to be up 15-7 in a 90 second burst.


The Chargers struggled to get into the game, while the Pioneers continued to steadily pull away to a 22-11 lead at the first break.


Hobart used the break to reset, hitting the court in the second stanza with determination, with a flurry of scoring and a pair of three pointers reducing their lead to five in the first two minutes of play.


The Pioneers were outscored 7-16 by the charging visitors, and with four minutes left in the period had seen their lead cut to two.


The Tasmanians then drew level, almost silencing the big crowd, before the home side staged a mini fightback in shadow of half time, knocking down eight points to Hobart’s two to finish the quarter up 37-31.


The Pioneers struggled to find the basket in the opening three minutes of the third quarter, held scoreless while Hobart sunk three points to cut the deficit to three.


The Chargers continued to outscore the hosts, working to get back within one point in a low scoring quarter, as Mount Gambier scored slowly and went into the final change up 52-47.


The scores in the final quarter were almost a carbon copy of the third, with the Pioneers scoring 15 points to Hobart’s 19.


The Tasmanians scored a hattrick of three pointers to pull level with three minutes left in the quarter, before taking the lead 63-60.


Pioneers fans were on the edge of their seats as the sides battled furiously to secure a win, but Mount Gambier was bolstered by their sixth man, snatching back the lead with 50 seconds to play, before taking the win 67-66.


Zitina Aokuso led the way for the Pioneers with a double double, scoring 25 points and 10 rebounds.


Haliegh Reinoehl knocked down 16 points, with Calleia chipping in with 12.


Head coach Matt Sutton said while it was not his side’s strongest performance, they would still take the win.


“We had a really strong start to the game, our energy was really good, as we made some rotations our energy and focus really waned and we struggled to get it back,” he said.


“It’s just a funny old league, one big quarter here and here can win the game and we were fortunate with the way we started.”


Sutton said he felt proud to have celebrated his 100th game at the helm, after being appointed as the Pioneers’ inaugural women’s coach in 2019.


He led the side with the reintroduction of the women’s program into Adelaide’s Premier League and was named Coach of the Year in his first season.


Sutton followed up this achievement by being named the NBL1 South Coach of the Year in 2022.


Sutton, a former men’s Pioneers player and captain, was awarded club life membership in 2013, is a five-time conference and three-time National Championship player, as well as a championship captain.


This milestone is shared with a combined playing and coaching milestone of over 300 games.


Not one to seek the limelight, Sutton said his focus was on creating a great atmosphere for his side and enjoying the journey.


“I thoroughly enjoy the experience, it keeps me involved with the game, which is really exciting, it’s something I really enjoy and we have a good time and hopefully some success will be had,” he said.


“A highlight was probably year one given we were a bit of an unknown, it was my first year doing it, it was a pretty exciting year, where we came from which was zero to finishing third that year was pretty memorable.


“There are special games here and there but the journey is what we are after and we are searching for that ultimate prize at the end.


“It’s a high level league, every team has high level players and we are the same, being amongst that, preparing for those players and preparing with those players is really good, but it’s the relationships you build with some fantastic people at all levels of the sport that make it special.”