Mixed play off results for Pioneers

Dramatic overtime victory for men seals preliminary final at home

The Castec Rural Supplies Mount Gambier Pioneers men have advanced to the NBL1 South preliminary final on August 4 after surviving a nailbiting overtime battle with Frankston – a match that ended with a video review to decide the final result.

Given the match was on the Blues home court on Saturday night, the one point victory, 97-96, was not met favourably from the parochial home crowd.

It was the most dramatic of finishes at Dreamstreet Lending Arena with the Pioneers leading by two when Frankston’s Daniel Trist was fouled with 4.1 seconds remaining.

He made the first at the line for the Blues and then after he missed the second, the ball bobbled around and eventually Trist was able to put the ball back in the hole. The decision then needed to be made if he got it off before time expired or not.

Eventually after a video review, the officials decided Trist’s put back did not beat the final buzzer and the Pioneers players celebrated amidst the boos from the Frankston faithful.

The victory means the Pioneers now have a week off and the advantage of hosting its preliminary final at Wulanda Recreation and Convention Centre, in front of their own fans. Heading into Saturday’s night qualifying final, Frankston had racked up a 16-6 regular season record, only slightly shading the Pioneers’ 15-7 season.

It was the higher ranked Blues that got off to a flyer, racing to a 16-point lead and maintained the rage to go into the final quarter with a 10 point advantage.

The Pioneers made their move early, scoring the first eight points of the final quarter and it was game on. Heading down the stretch Austin Shelley(above left) hit a massive three for the Pioneers to give them the lead before the Blues had possession out of a timeout and Lucas Barker found Daniel Trist and he found a wide open lane to the basket to level scores up. The Pioneers couldn’t get a good look to try and wrap up the contest in regular time and in overtime, it was again the Pioneers getting the better of the start, scoring the first five points before that final dramatic play.

Nick Marshall (above right) finished with 34 points, six rebounds and four assists in the eventual win for Mount Gambier on the back of shooting 15/30 from the field despite going 2/10 from three-point territory. Austin Shelley added 19 points, three boards and two steals, Titus Robinson 16 points, 10 boards and two stelas, Dylan Marshall 11 points and four rebounds, and Tom Kubank nine points, seven boards and three assists.

The news was not so good for the OneFortyOne Pioneers women who suffered a home court loss in their qualifying final, with the Geelong United Supercats securing a 10-point victory.Only one game separated the two teams at the end of the regular season and both came into the finals in winning form but on Friday night at Wulanda, it was the visitors getting the better of the start, piling on 31 points and leading by as many as 12 points.

That lead grew to 19 points in the second stanza for the Supercats and by half-time they remained in control with the 48-33 advantage. Geelong opened up a gamehigh 22-point lead in the third quarter before going on to secure the 10-point road victory. The win means that the Supercats will host a preliminary final at The Arena in Geelong in two weeks’ time while the Pioneers will be back home to host a semi final this weekend against Ringwood. Opals star Chantel Horvat finished the night with 18 points, 13 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks for Geelong United on the back of shooting 7/14 from the field and 3/3 at the foul line and proved the difference.

In form Pioneer Miela Goodchild (pictured left) had a rough first half but worked into the game in the second half to finish with 15 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals despite shooting 7/26 from the field and 1/13 from beyond the arc. Haliegh Reinoehl (pictured far left) also had 15 points, four boards and two assists, Zitina Aokuso 15 points, four rebounds and four assists, Isabella Brancatisano 14 points, seven boards and six assists, and Sherrie Calleia 11 points, two rebounds and two assists.