First win and good signs for Bendigo Men

The Bendigo Bank Braves Men weren’t far away from making it a perfect NBL1 South double header weekend this round.

Bendigo travelled to Geelong on Saturday night and chalked up their first win of the 2023 season.

A quick 8-2 start from Bendigo saw them go into the first break up 27-21, on the back of eight points from centre Adam Pechacek.

Geelong came flying back in second quarter to lead 46-54 at half time. Whatever coach Stephen Black said to his Bendigo chargers at the long break, it worked, for most of the second half anyway.

A 22-12 third term led by Lat Mayen, Isaac Turner, and Bijan Johnson saw Bendigo head into the final term up 68-66.

Bendigo’s comeback stalled early in the last, with Geelong back out by seven with just over eight minutes to go.

After a much-needed time out, Bendigo clicked, scoring 26 points to nine to win 96-86.

Key plays in the last minute to Pechacek – with an and-1 – and an Isaac Murphy offensive rebound for a Mayen 3, shored the game up for Bendigo.

Pechacek finished with 25 points and 13 rebounds, Mayen 22 and 12, while Luke Rosendale and Turner each had 12 points for the night.

Bendigo hosted North West Tasmania at Red Energy Arena on Sunday afternoon, keen to make it two on the trot.

It was a shootout in the first quarter, with both sides trading threes and the Thunder up 31-34 at quarter time.

The second quarter was totally the opposite, with the two teams tightening up on defense, and a 10-2 foul count hampering any momentum Bendigo could get.

The Thunder’s six-point half time lead was out to 10 at the last break, but the game was anything but over.

Still down by nine with three minutes to play, Bendigo’s intensity lifted. Quality hustle plays whittled the lead down to four with one minute left, then two Pechacek free throws halved the lead to two with only 30 seconds to play.

In the end, two made free throws from NW Tasmania moved the score to 95-99, where it stayed.

Mayen finished the game with 23 points, and Pechacek picked up his second double-double for the weekend with 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Rosendale (16 points) and Johnson (15) were the other top scorers for the afternoon.

Black was happy with parts of his team’s weekend.

“It was good to come back so well against Geelong. We put together a really good last eight minutes,” he said.

“We made good decisions and got the ball to guys who were playing well. That was pleasing from a decision-making perspective.

“Our hustle was also really good. It played an important role at key times against Geelong.”

Black said the NWT game was one that got away.

“We have been showing patches where we really play together with good intensity, we just haven’t been able to sustain it for long enough,” he said.

“Against NWT we kept them to a score we thought we could attack, and at the end of the last quarter we showed how aggressive we can be.

“It was a frustrating game and probably one that got away.”

Photo - Craig Dilks Photography