By Tara Murray
Bacchus Marsh Lions have enjoyed a good first hit-out in Country Basketball League south-west division.
Playing another newcomer, Hamilton Hurricanes, the Lions greater experience made a big difference in their 86-44 win.
Lions’ co-coach Jeff Feben said their CBL debut had unfolded as well as could be expected.
“It was pretty good,” he said. “It was a comfortable win in the end and good for the club.
“We wanted to go out there and be competitive and give a reason for the spectators to come back and bring others with them – and we did that.”
The Lions jumped out of the blocks early in the game, giving them a lead of 34-16 at the first break.
Billy Feben was the star early on, outscoring the entire Hurricane side by himself in the first quarter with 17 points.
The margin in favour of the Lions was 23 points at the main break and 40 points at three-quarter time.
With the game already won, the coaches were quite happy to run the Lions’ bench in the final quarter.
Every Lion player got on court and scored.
“It was a good experience to get everyone on the court,” Feben said.
“We were prepared – if we were well up or well down, we’d get minutes into everyone, and it happened in round one in front of an excited crowd.
“One of the younger players, Max Beaumont, played well and Tyler Collins stepped up.”
Billy Feben top scored with 23 points, with his father saying he could have scored 40-plus if he had played more minutes.
Jeff Feben said Jordan Kirk (10 points) and Mitch Barnes (seven points) both had good games.
While the Lions have got a win on the board, they understand there is a long season ahead.
This weekend, they will face two teams that had success last season – Horsham and Colac – in what the coach said would again be a journey into the unknown for Bacchus Marsh.
“We play the north-west conference winners in Horsham and then the south-west conference winners in Colac,” Feben said.
“And both those teams lost this week.
“We don’t know if they’ve lost players or other teams have got better.”
FOR MORE CBL NEWS
www.starweekly.com.au/sports/kyneton-tigers-apply-lessons-learned-from-debut-season/
