Bendigo Men fight hard in tough double

It was a case of what could have been for the McDonalds Bendigo Braves Men as they took on both Tasmania teams in an on-the-road double header on the weekend.

Hobart hosted Bendigo on Friday night and a slow start from the Braves was all that separated the teams at the end of the game.

An 8-0 run to Hobart (the largest in the game) saw Bendigo go into the first break down by 12, and from there it was even.

In fact, Bendigo won the final three quarters by one point as the stoic resistance the side has shown all year was again on show.

But that wasn’t enough, Bendigo going down 88-99. Rowan Mackenzie and Mitch Clarke top scored for Bendigo with 25 points each, with Andrew Robinson (16) and Billy Smythe (12) also contributing strongly.

However, it was a stat of a different kind that confounded Bendigo coach Stephen Black. The free-throw difference in the game was enough to cause any basketball fan to do an immediate double take.

Bendigo received 12 free throws for the game, Hobart 39. Coincidentally, Bendigo ran into the same problem in the second half of their game against North West Tasmania the following night.

“We might completely have to change the way we do things,” he said.

“We had 25 fewer free throws in the second half across the weekend.

“We need to see what we are doing wrong and what we need to change.”

Saturday night’s Ulverstone game was also one that got away from Bendigo.

A 10-17 start created warning signs for the Braves, before they hit back with an 11-0 run and went into the quarter time break only one point down.

Bendigo got the lead out to five midway through the second term, with quality play from Mackenzie and captain Isaac Murphy.

North West Tasmania responded from beyond the arc to lead by two at the main break, extending it to as much as 13 in the third quarter.

Once again, it was a case of a bridge too far for Bendigo, which, despite coming within one point midway through the last quarter, ran out of legs, going down 85-96.

Clake (15) and Mackenzie (13) were brilliant, with Robinson (14), Smythe (14), and Murphy (12) also making valuable contributions.

Black said short-term lapses, such as the one in the first quarter against Hobart, had haunted his team regularly this season.

“It’s a bit of a pattern for us and again I was disappointed in terms of the things we are focusing on and trying to do,” he said.

“For most of the season we have shown pretty good resilience, but we dug ourselves too much of a hole against Hobart, and the worst part was that it was a self-inflicted hole.

“Again, against North West Tasmania, we showed some toughness and got it back to one basket, but we put ourselves in that position in the first place.

“They outplayed us, and they shouldn’t have.”

Photo - Craig Dilks Photography