A TOUGH game in Mildura resulted in Wallan Panthers division two men going down 87 to 94.
Wallan’s American import Arcaim Lallemand returned after being out for a month with a hamstring injury, while Jake Best came up from the youth league team.
Coach Tim Annett said Best had an incredible game against Mildura’s import in the second half.
Lallemand had starred for Wallan, leading the scoring with 29 points and four rebounds, while captain for the game Tyler Best also had a strong game with 23 points and seven rebounds.
Annett said the side knew it would be a tough contest heading to Mildura.
“It’s always tough up there. We’re obviously missing our leading scorer Keenan Gorski so we went in a little undermanned but Mildura are definitely hard to beat up there,” he said.
It was a close first quarter for the Panthers as they took the lead early and maintained it to end the quarter 21 to 19.
Lallemand scored the first five points of the game, but all Wallan players on court were attacking the basket and hitting the scoreboard.
Mildura hit the front in the opening of the second quarter with a quick three-pointer and it was from that moment that Wallan had to play catch-up.
The Heat extended their lead by eight points in the middle of the second quarter but the Panthers remained competitive, closing the gap to one point, 42-43, as they headed into halftime.
Coming out of halftime Mildura got on a quick-scoring run, hitting eight points, before Jayden O’Brien put Wallan on the scoreboard with a three-pointer.
With four minutes remaining, Mildura extended its lead to 18 points, the biggest margin of the game, but the Panthers never gave up, continuing to apply scoreboard pressure and bringing the game back within 10-points.
Wallan continued to ramp up its pressure in the fourth quarter. Three free-throws by O’Brien after two technical fouls from Mildura brought the game back to within three points.
The Panthers continued to be competitive even in the final minutes of the game, coming within three points but just falling short in the end.
Annett said Wallan was right in it for most of the game.
“We just had a really bad start to the third quarter. To the boys’ credit they really rallied and got back within one point but unfortunately couldn’t finish the job off. But I’m extremely happy with how we did fight it out.”
Wallan has a bye this weekend but will come up against Mildura again on July 1 – on Wallan’s home court.
“We’ll be looking to change things up a little bit, not too much though because we really were right there with them,” Annett said.
“We definitely see ourselves as a chance to knock them off next time. We’ll just have a solid week of training – we don’t need to do anything extraordinary.”
Women
Wallan division two women had a 37-point win over the RMIT Redbacks at home on Sunday, winning 73 to 36.
Kylah Collins had another strong game with 17 points, four rebounds and four assists.
In her 250th game, Sarah Scott played well, scoring 14 points, six rebounds and applying strong defensive pressure with five steals.
RMIT hit a three-pointer to kick off scoring after multiple missed shots for both sides in the first quarter.
However, Wallan took the lead with a basket from Collins and continued to build, ending the first quarter up 21 to seven.
The Panthers continued to dominate the game in the second quarter, heading into halftime with a 31-15 lead.
Both teams struggled to score in the first few transitions in the third quarter until Melissa Buckley made one of two free throws for Wallan.
The Redbacks hit a three-pointer to kick off their scoring but constant missed shots meant they couldn’t close the margin.
Wallan took advantage of RMIT’s missed baskets by securing defensive rebounds and converting them at the offensive end.
Scott had great defensive pressure in the third quarter forcing multiple turnovers and taking an offensive foul.
RMIT continued to miss baskets and struggled to score for the rest of the game, having a period of four minutes in the third quarter where it didn’t trouble the scorer.
Wallan monopolised on RMIT’s scoreless period, continuing to grab rebounds and score which gave them a comfortable win.
Wallan women play Collingwood All Stars on Saturday night.