By JARROD POTTER
THE Tasmanian invasion paid dividends against the Dandenong Rangers men with the North West Tasmania Thunder bringing home a 93-81 win.
Well placed with two points in it at the half, Dandenong fell away after the main break as the Thunder shot over 50 per cent to push away in the 12-point win.
Andrew Harms (15 points) and Dwayne Campbell (four points) shared the ball-handling duties, but couldn’t make enough impact for the forwards – with Dandenong giving the ball back 17 times and being outworked off their own glass 17-rebounds-to-28.
Daequon Montreal played a dab hand, keeping the Rangers in the match with 22 points and 13 rebounds, with Tony Lewis also getting on the boards with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Dandenong has fallen to a .500 record in the SEABL East and will need to spark a revival tonight (Thursday) in an Anzac Day match against Frankston before squaring off against Kilsyth at home.
Dandenong’s women fared much better, belting Launceston up and down the court in an 80-39 shellacking.
Contextually, Dandenong scored 31 points in the first quarter and would’ve only trailed the Tornadoes by eight across the whole of the visitors’ performance.
Only shooting 31/82 – there was a lot more pain that the Rangers could’ve inflicted.
Rangers coach Paul Flynn toyed with the Tornadoes – resting his star trio Amelia Todhunter (22 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists), Clare Papavs (nine points, six assists) and Faith Probst (seven points, eight rebounds) – getting good time into his bench as Tenaya Phillips (12 points) and Emma Gilsenan (nine points) earned significant court time.
Dandenong sits second in the SEABL East and faces Frankston and Kilsyth this weekend.
