It was a disappointing weekend for the Castec Rural Pioneers, dropping back to back games on the road as they headed to Melbourne to face two quality NBL1 South teams.


The side kicked off the weekend against the Ringwood Hawks in an underwhelming performance which resulted in them losing their first road game in over a year.


The Pioneers took on the Frankston Blues on Sunday in a better performance than the previous night, however Mount Gambier still came up short in the game.


The two losses mean the Pioneers now drop to fifth on the NBL1 South ladder with a record of 5-3.


On Saturday night the Ringwood Hawks rolled over the Pioneers and dominated the match, taking the win by 30 points.


The first term was solid for the Pioneers on the offensive end as they scored 20 points but struggled from deep, going one for six.


The Pioneers did not look like their usual selves in defence as Ringwood had their way on the court, scoring 34 points in the opening quarter.


Angus Glover was the main man for Ringwood to start the match and caused several problems for the Pioneers, scoring 11 points in the quarter.


After the opening term the Pioneers trailed by 14 points.


The second term was much better for the Pioneers as the offence started flowing a bit better as the side put 30 points on the board and actually outscored the Hawks in the quarter.


However, the defence continued to let Mount Gambier down as Ringwood still had a productive quarter, scoring 27 points.


Despite the improved play from the Pioneers there was still a lot of work to be done as they headed into the half time break with an 11 point deficit to overcome.


Mount Gambier did not come out of the half time break looking like a better side, having their worst quarter of the year, only putting nine points on the board and seemingly struggling across the court.


Ringwood, on the other hand, continued to pull away with another solid quarter, scoring 26.


Mount Gambier had a much better performance in the final term, but the damage had already been done as the Hawks continued to put points on the board to help seal a big victory.


Joe Palmer led the team in scoring and rebounds as he put up 22 points and 15 rebounds while Kaden Archie contributed well with 18 points.


Pioneers head coach Richard Hill thought his side struggled to contain Ringwood, who were on fire offensively.


“We just could not deal with Ringwood, they were on fire, we could not contain them, they shot the ball well early and got out to a pretty big lead,” he said.


“They shot extremely well as they have got a pretty good team which I was not surprised but I was surprised that our defence was not better but in review they were making some crazy good shots.”


Ringwood defeated Mount Gambier – 118-88.


On Sunday the Pioneers headed to Frankston to face on the Blues and came up short again – despite a much better performance than Saturday night.


Both sides started well in the opening term, with plenty of back and forth play putting points on the board.


Frankston was able to pull away with a solid lead at the end of the quarter to be up by nine points.


The second term was yet another tight one as neither side could pull away and build a solid lead.


However, Mount Gambier did well to keep themselves in the game after trailing in the opening quarter.


Both sides scored 27 points in the second term, ensuring the lead remained at nine in Frankston’s favour going into half time.


The Pioneers struggled behind the arc in the first half, going five for 19 in the half.


The third quarter proved a similar story as there was not much separating the two sides.


Mount Gambier was able to win the stanza, outscoring the Blues by just one point which took them into the final period in a good position, trailing by eight.


The Pioneers ran out of gas in the fourth as Frankston pulled away with the victory, outscoring Mount Gambier – 29-22 as the Pioneers’ offence dried up.


The Pioneers struggled to stop Frankston’s Taane Samuel and former Pioneer Michael Harris, with Samuel scoring 35 points and grabbing 10 rebounds while Harris had 22 points, seven rebounds and six assists.


Despite the loss, Mount Gambier still had a solid offensive game as they had six players in double digits.


Akech Aliir led the side with 24 points and 10 rebounds while Austin Shelley and Alex Mundronja both contributed 14 points.


Despite playing against a less talented team on Sunday, Hill thought Frankston was still a tough opponent.


“We played against a not quite as talented team on Sunday but they were still very good,” he said.


“We could not contain (Taane) Samuel in the paint, he was very good and Michael Harris was also pretty good.


“The whole weekend we were just chasing.


“We were a long way behind early in both games and against good teams it’s just really hard to come back.”


Frankston defeated Mount Gambier – 115-100.


The Pioneers have another tough road trip this weekend as they head to Melbourne again to take on the Casey Cavaliers.