AN undermanned Swan Hill Flyers men’s team finished their 2024 CBL North West season on a high with a 17-point victory over the Kyneton Tigers at home on Sunday.
The 91-74 win was set up by a dominant first quarter, when the Flyers jumped out to an 11-point lead.
Although Kyneton would fight back in the second term to reduce their deficit to four points at the main break, they were never able to fully bridge the gap.
Swan Hill ran away with the game in a 27-15 final quarter.
The win gave the Flyers men back-to-back victories to end their campaign, after defeating the previously unbeaten Castlemaine Cannons last Sunday.
Swan Hill coach Hugh Broad told The Guardian he was pleased with the way his squad finished their season.
“We couldn’t have finished any better than we did, we were undermanned and had a couple of guys a bit sick (on Sunday) and to come away with the win under those circumstances was incredible,” Broad said.
“We went into the game with a fair bit of confidence from last week. Both teams shot really well, but I thought we did the basics a lot better.
“We got rebounds, we moved it around, we played great defence, we didn’t try to be too flashy and even though Matt (Gardner) is really good at that aspect of the game, at the end of the day I thought we just did the little things better.”
The Flyers went into their final match with just one player on the bench due to injuries and unavailability, leaving the side vulnerable to fatigue throughout the final quarter.
Lachlan Gardner was dominant in the paint for Swan Hill, posting 36 points, while Lachlan Somerville (19 points), Matthew Gardner (14 points) and Torben McFarlane (12 points) all registered double-figure scores.
But it was the defensive performance of former coach Steven Bowden, playing his last game in Flyers colours, that gained the most praise from Broad.
“Steve Bowden played incredible, he used his body well defensively and stepped up defensively a bit more than what he has in the last few games, and I think that helped get us the win,” Broad said.
“A lot of their big men didn’t hurt us as much as they could have because Steve was playing really well.
“He’s been an amazing servant of our club, having spent time as our men’s coach, and has played excellently the past two weeks.
“He’s been among our better players this past fortnight and we won both games, and he’s going to be missed as he is one of those players that makes a huge difference to our team.
“‘Matty’ (Gardner) turned it on at the right time, Lachie Somerville was playing through sickness and he did a really good job, but we only had six guys so they all had to play well.
“One thing we addressed before the game was that while we only have six players, we had a good six players and it was a team that had all played a lot of CBL, we didn’t have anyone debuting or any juniors playing, we just had the core group of CBL men.
“I was a little worried about fatigue being an issue, but we weren’t worried about skill or experience because we knew that the six players that we had would be good enough to get the job done and that ended up being the case.”
Broad said the improvement of the younger members of the squad would leave an indelible mark on the season, with a strong junior program seen as the future for basketball in Swan Hill.
“One of the best things this season was seeing the juniors come up and play and do really well,” he said.
“The senior group is really strong, and the bulk of the squad have been playing together for the best part of five years, but it’s the players that we have coming through our junior program that will ensure we have a great future within Swan Hill basketball.
“The talent that we have within the association is incredible and we know we’re not far away, we’ve beaten the two top teams this season, it’s just a matter of building on those gains from this year.”
