By Tara Murray
It was a mixed weekend for Bacchus Marsh Lions in the Country Basketball League.
After a massive first-up win, the Lions were tested at the weekend against two sides which claimed their conference premierships last year.
It was a tough match-up against Horsham Hornets on Saturday night.
The Lions were missing five of their top eight players to make the task even harder.
They were in the game until half-time, trailing by seven points at the main break, before fading and losing 101-57.
Lions co-coach Jeff Feben said the result was what they expected with so many players missing from the side.
“We were missing four of five starters,” he said.
“We were able to stay in it until half-time and then struggled to keep with them.
“We ran out of legs. It was always a matter of when the floodgates would open.
“If we played against them with our full team come finals time, I think we could give a good account of ourselves.”
Billy Feben top scored with 17 points, while Max Beaumont scored 12 points.
Jeff Feben said Beaumont had started the season well and was pushing the starters.
He said Daniel Jackson did a good job at playing at the five, with both their centres missing.
With their full squad to pick from on Sunday it was a different result against the Colac Kookas. They led all day to claim a 78-50 win.
Feben said he was impressed with that performance.
“We had a full quota,” he said. “It was a super effort again. We had all our starters back and had fresh legs and had two centres.
“Our running game with fast transition was going really well.
“Kirky [Jordan Kirk] was fantastic and set up the win.”
Kirk top scored with 20 points, while Billy Feben made 14 points and gave away several assists and Diquan Williams chipped in with 12 points, as all but one player hit the scoreboard.
Jeff Feben said they were starting to see connections several players have with each other on court.
While happy with the result, Feben said it wasn’t all positive as the Lions lost the last quarter.
“Stuff we have to be aware of is things like the last quarter,” he said. “While it was great to get minutes into everyone, we have to pick up the drop in scoring.”
In a bonus, the Lions added another centre to their squad last week.
The Lions have another double header this weekend, this time on the road.
They face Bellarine Storm on Saturday night and Geelong Supercats on Sunday.
“It’ll give us a gauge of where we are sitting,” Feben said.
MORE CBL NEWS
www.starweekly.com.au/sports/kyneton-tigers-maul-pirates-in-solid-first-win-for-the-season/
