Paky Warriors in narrow loss

By Ben Hope
THE 250-strong crowd that turned out to watch the Pakenham Warriors in their Big V debut couldn’t have asked for a better opponent than fellow newcomers Cranbourne Cavaliers.
After trailing the Warriors through the first three quarters, Cranbourne refused to give up and scored a narrow victory in the final minutes of the slow-scoring but hard-fought game.
Pakenham head coach Danny Adamson said gave credit to the Cavaliers who hung in after trailing for the first three quarters.
“We led for 35 minutes, but our ability to make the right decisions at the right time was left out in the cold,” Adamson said.
“We were off to a great start and led in every statistic but that counts for nothing unless you can win as well.”
Both teams applied hard defence throughout the game and the Warriors looked comfortable as they ended the second quarter ahead, 29-16.
Hayden Taylor put in a noteworthy performance for Pakenham and new recruit Steve Bonacci was also a stand-out with 11 points and 17 rebounds.
“When you look at all the statistics we were up, but ultimately Cranbourne had a better efficiency rating,” Adamson said.
“Our accuracy just wasn’t there. We had 22.2 per cent accuracy for our free throws while Cranbourne had 26.7 per cent.
“They had more contributors and were more effective across the board.”
In the second half Cranbourne refused to give up and closed the gap to one point by the end of the third quarter.
Keeping up the pressure to the end, the Cavaliers took the lead with five minutes to spare.
“We took 81 shots with only 18 ending up in the right place,” Adamson said.
“We work on shooting every day but you have games where this happens. It’s one of those things.
“If it was nerves then we need to get over it. Nerves are sometimes good; they keep you focused but you still need to deliver.”
The Cavaliers won the day 56-47 after scoring nine points in the final three minutes.
Adamson said it was great to host the Warriors’ first Big V match at home and the show of support at Cardinia Life was encouraging.
“We have some things to work on in the future but all in all I’m not too disappointed, it was a good start to the season,” he said.
“There was a nice crowd of about 250 including Big V League CEO Raelene Whitten and it was great to have that support.”
The Warriors will have a full team for next week’s away clash with Warrandyte and Adamson is predicting a tough competition.
“We were down three of our top players last week but we should have the full list available this Sunday and we will need them,” he said.

@BT Sub Sport Gaz:PAKENHAM RESULTS
BOYS

Under 16: The team lost by a single point to Dandenong, 37-38.
Under 14: The Pakenham Warriors travelled to Springvale to play Keysborough and came away with a convincing 46-30 win.
Under 12: Pakenham hosted Frankston and also went down by a single point, 39-38.

@BT Sub Sport Gaz:GIRLS

Under 20: Faced up to a focused Blackburn side and lost 18 to 62.
Under 16: With Pakenham Blue playing Pakenham Gold side in the season opener both teams were keen to show their stuff. The teams train together most of the time so there was little they did not know about each other. Gold took a slim lead but Blue wiped out the lead and went into half-time leading by six points. After the break Gold snuck out to small lead. Scores were level at 35 points until the last minutes of the game but Blue kept its to win 40-38.
Under 14: Southern Peninsula gained an early lead in a tight game before being pegged back by half-time. Southern Peninsula again took the early lead right up to the five-minute mark in the last half before Pakenham took the lead for the first time and held on for a four-point win against the competitive Sharks.