It was another big weekend in the Country Basketball League north-west as the Melton and Moorabool local derbies took over.
In the men’s it was the Melton Thoroughbreds who claimed bragging rights over the Bacchus Marsh Lions on Saturday night.
The Thoroughbreds controlled the game from the outset, holding a nine point lead at quarter time which grew to 22 at the half. From there the game was over with the Thoroughbreds winning 100-73.
Thoroughbreds’ coach Mick McCallum said it is always good to get the wood over the local rivals, especially with finals just around the corner.
“It always is fun playing against Bacchus Marsh and to come away with the win is really good,” he said.
“The boys played really well, it’s probably the first time in the last month that we’ve played half decent basketball.
“It just finally clicked, they’ve been working really hard off the court, it had to come eventually if they just kept sticking to it and it finally showed on Saturday night and it looked really good.”
Bol Bak continued his great season, top scoring with 24 points. Bak is averaging 21 for the season and was able to back it up on Sunday scoring 30 in the Thoroughbreds’ clash with the Echuca Pirates.
“He had a really good weekend, in both games,” McCallum said.
“On Saturday night he was just too explosive and too quick, he stayed in our structure and we were getting good open looks for him.”
It wasn’t just Bak who helped steer his side to back-to-back victories on Sunday with Milan Savic also putting down 30 points in the 87-81 win.
“If we wanted to make finals we had to win both games over the weekend to keep us in the hunt,” McCallum said.
“The double headers are always a shocker, we were pretty flat on Sunday, it was a physical game on Saturday night so it was always going to hurt.
“We managed to scrape through, Echuca gave us a good run for our money and luckily we came away with the win.”
With two wins, the Thoroughbreds moved to third on the ladder with one round remaining, which sets up a do or die clash with the Macedon Ranges Rockies on Saturday as they attempt to maintain their spot within the top four.
The Thoroughbreds won last year’s title.
“Macedon has a couple of really good scooters in their team,” McCallum said.
“We’re going to have our work cut out for us and it’s a must win if we want to make the finals.”
Harper Sercombe
