By JARROD POTTER
SEABL – ROUND 9
DOING it the hard way, Dandenong claimed a pair of difficult victories in its double-header against Frankston.
The Rangers’ men had plenty of reason to get up for this match as Dandenong import Daequon Montreal (13 points, 8 rebounds) celebrated his 100th SEABL match, since arriving at the club after his college days at Boise State.
In a back-and-forth match, both sides traded blows as Frankston worked its way in front via Brandon Polk (25 points, 17 rebounds) and Eric Williams (13 points).
With Chris Patton (knee) sidelined for the rest of the season, Dandenong coach Darren Perry went to his bench to get the centre-work done against Frankston and unearthed stellar efforts from Mason Peatling (19 points, 9 rebounds) and Dieuson Biyendolo (2 points, 4 rebounds).
The 17-year-old Peatling, from Berwick, showed he is an exceptional prospect for the future as the Victoria Metro representative clamped down on Polk and Williams under the defensive hoop while charging up the court and making himself a prime target for the guard group.
“That (Patton’s knee injury) takes a pretty big guy out of that line-up, but I thought… it was a super effort from the young fella – Mason… and Biyendolo played a nice role in the middle off the bench.
“We do it every year – have players come in and out and we figure out how to play – but it’s always nice to get the win.”
A Dwayne Campbell stumble-then-shoot resulted in a match-defining three-pointer pushing the Rangers out to a five-point lead before Lucas Walker alley-ooped the Rangers to a seven point lead.
While hitting nine-of-13 is impressive offensively, Peatling saved his best for last with a match-saving block in the dying minutes. After the block he charged up the court and connected with the lay-up helping the Rangers hold on to the 81-75 victory.
Walker (13 points) and guard Michael Wearne (11 points) – who is leaving for Eastern Washington University this week – also relished the chance to knock about the Blues.
“Fortunately we did enough and made enough of our free throws,” Perry said.
“Would still like a few more of them to go in, but we dug in on defence and it looked for a little while that we lost our concentration there, but we got that back.”
Moving to third in the SEABL East Conference – with a 7-5 record – Dandenong faces Sandringham on Thursday evening before flying to Brisbane to face the Spartans on Saturday.
