Bendigo leaps into top four with big wins

The Bendigo Bank Braves Men rocketed into the top four on the NBL1 South ladder with two important wins on the weekend. 

Starting the weekend in sixth place, Bendigo defeated then third-placed Sandringham 81-67 in a physical game at Red Energy Arena on Saturday night.

They followed it up with an 85-78 win against Casey at home the next day, to take their winning streak to nine.

Being without number-two scorer Malcom Bernard, Bendigo shared the scoring around in both games, with five players hitting double figures on Saturday night, and four on Sunday.

Kuany Kuany returned to the team with 14 and 30 points over the weekend, with Luke Rosendale (21 and 18) and Jake Lloyd (16 and 17) making significant contributions.

Man mountain Sidy Djitte was immoveable under the key, with double-doubles in both games, and a stunning 25 rebounds on Saturday night against the Sabres.

A relaxed coach Stephen Black was again impressed with how his team handled the weekend.

“With Malcom out, they were two very pleasing results,” he said.

“I was really happy with the way the guys went about it. Saturday night was a good win, and to be able to win despite not having everything go our way on Sunday was also impressive. 

“We just kept going and making the plays we needed to make.”

Black has one eye on Nunawading on Saturday night, and another on the five games after that.

Photo credit - Akuna Photography

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do,” he said.

“We’ve got six games across four weeks, including playing the top three teams.

“We’re going from huge game to huge game in the next month. Hopefully we can keep playing with the intensity we have been.” 

Bendigo travels to Nunawading on Saturday night, with the Women’s game starting at 5.30pm and the Men’s 7.30pm. They then host Hobart at Red Energy Arena on Sunday, the Women at noon and the Men at 2pm.