The Swan Hill Flyers have opened their 2023 CBL account in impressive fashion, coming from behind in a hard-fought contest to defeat the Bendigo Braves by seven points at home on Sunday.
It was the Swan Hill men’s teams first win for the season, and the composed performance of Lachie Gardner in the dying moments of the match was a crucial factor.
Gardner, who had been one of the Flyers’ best all game, drained nine straight free throws from 10 attempts inside the last two minutes, after the Braves committed several technical fouls while holding a two-point lead.
Bendigo’s ill-discipline included Lachlan O’Brien being ejected from the game in the final minute.
Swan Hill recorded an 87-80 victory and climbed to equal fifth on the SBL North West ladder.
While Gardner’s sure hand proved to be the difference, it was the Flyers’ strong defensive performance in the final quarter that put them in a winning position, with Swan Hill men’s coach Steven Bowden full of praise for his teams’ performance.
“We had a pretty interrupted pre-season, with footy finals clashing and not having a full squad at training, but regardless of that, we know we are still good enough to play a high level of basketball,” Bowden said.
“We had a few guys out today, either injured or unavailable, but we had faith and were confident with every player that went out on the court that we’d be able to match it with them.
“We brought energy for the full 40 minutes, we just stuck together as a team and got over the line.
“I put it down to us doing the small things well, like boxing out and having your hands active on the passing lanes to deny passes to their shooters.
“Those small things pay off, we just locked in as a team and showed that our best is good enough to beat anyone.”
After trailing by five points at half time, the Flyers clicked into gear after the main break, outscoring the Braves 46-34 in the second half.
Gardner led the scoring for Swan Hill, posting a match-high 28 points, with Torben McFarlane next best with 26 points, including six three-pointers. Lachlan Somerville was the only other Flyer to post double figures with 12 points.
With their first points now on the board, Swan Hill will now hit the road, playing a double-header weekend against the Bacchus Marsh Lions and the Macedon Ranges Rockies.
“A result like that will help us build confidence ahead of next week,” Bowden said.
“Both games are winnable, we just have to continue to build on today as we’re still going to have guys missing, so it will be hard for our boys with rotations.
“We’re limited at the moment, but it’s about how big your heart is on the court and the boys showed the size of theirs today.
“We have a pretty young side, we had Koby McMillian come in and play his first game of CBL and he did everything we asked him to do.
“He didn’t need to score, instead he came out and crashed the boards and did the small things that aren’t counted on the stats sheet.
“We’ll take momentum into next week, it might be a big road trip, but it’s a winnable road trip.”
It wasn’t all smiles in the Flyers camp. The Lady Flyers suffered a heavy loss to the Bendigo Braves 109-45 earlier on Sunday.
Swan Hill conceded 34 points in the first quarter, while scoring just five of their own in a difficult start, which was compounded by a knee injury to Carlee Hazlett in the opening minutes of the game.
From there, the Flyers never recovered, with the Lady Braves outscoring Swan Hill in every term on their way to a 64-point win.
It wasn’t all bad news for the Lady Flyers, with Ava Crow producing another strong performance to lead the scoring for Swan Hill with 19 points in just her second CBL match.
