Bernard brings Bendigo back in OT thriller

It was by far the best game seen in the redeveloped Red Energy Arena, and possibly the best game in the history of the entire stadium. And it delivered the Bendigo Bank Braves Men a thrilling finals win.

Hosting a Knox Raiders side with a raft of NBL talent, Bendigo got off to a slow start in the Elimination Final on Saturday night.

The Braves were down 21-31 at quarter time on the back of some impressive Knox shooting. The Raiders’ high defense was troubling Bendigo, and NBL star Deng Acouth was making it impossible for Bendigo to find any space in the key.

Coach Stephen Black changed things up at the start of the second quarter, and it worked, with Bendigo going on an 11-4 run and taking the lead at the half way mark of the term.

Centre Sidy Djitte was in foul trouble in the second, leaving young gun Isaac Murphy with the job on the 2011-centimetre Acouth. And he did it with aplomb, creating two turnovers, keeping Acouth scoreless for the quarter and hitting two key threes.

Bendigo went into the main break down by two, and came out and dominated the third quarter. The Braves led 75-66 at three-quarter time, with four players in double figures, and the game theirs to be won.

Knox got the deficit back to five with some good long-range shooting, and with 6.21 to go, Djitte’s fifth foul (and the game’s 40^th of 54) threatened to be yet another twist in the game. And it was.

Two minutes later Knox had the lead. And when South East Melbourne Phoenix guard Adam Gibson hit two three-pointers in a row for Knox, the Raiders’ lead was out to six with 1.42m left.

Bendigo’s defense then stepped up with three vital defensive turnovers, a Malcolm Bernard two,  and some free throws. With 17 seconds to go, Bendigo was down by only three.

A Black timeout resulted in a sideline play that saw most of Bendigo’s team constantly on the move, with Knox losing Bernard on the switch.

The large crowd held their collective breath, and with 4.3 seconds to play Bernard sank a three to send the game into overtime.

Scores were still level three minutes into the five-minute overtime period, before Bernard lifted the roof off Red Energy Arena.

A free throw, a two-point jump shot over Acouth, and a steal from a Knox sideline inbound, stamped out any Raiders comeback and saw Bendigo home 109-102.

Bernard led all scorers with a big comeback form injury, finishing with 30 points, nine assists, and five steals.

Kuany Kuany had another big night with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Murphy was huge yet again for Bendigo, with 17 points at 70 per cent.

Coach Stephen Black said it was a landmark day in the club’s history.

“It was a pretty special night,” he said.

“The pressure and steals in the last one and a half minutes were about heart, grit, and determination from the whole group.

“They put us in the position to have the shots that won us the game.”

Astonishingly, Bendigo outscored Knox 56-26 in the paint, something Black said was not a big target at the start of the game.

“That just really evolved. As the game went on we realised we were able to get to the basket a lot,” he said.

“A lot of that was because of Malcolm. He gets to the key and has multiple ways to score.

“Malcolm was a big factor in creating those opportunities. He’s special. He’s an extremely talented player.”

Bendigo travels to Kilsyth on Friday night to take on the Cobras in the Semi Final, with the winner playing in the Preliminary Final at Hobart in Sunday.

“We’ll spend this week looking at some of the structural things we need to,” he said.

“Defensively we weren’t at the level we wanted to be, except at the end of the game.”

Photo credit - Akuna Photography