By Marcus Uhe
A weekend on the road has not been kind to the Dandenong Rangers men, losing twice in two days in the NBL1 South competition and anchoring them to the bottom of the table.
On Saturday night they relinquished a final-quarter lead to fall short of Bendigo in a game that shaped as a terrific opportunity to breathe some life into their sputtering season.
The contest of wild momentum swings saw the Rangers outscored 16-29 in the opening quarter before taking a seven-point lead into the final break, after scoring 52-32 over the following two periods.
Their defence tightened the screws superbly, holding Bendigo scoreless for nearly eight minutes in a period that overlapped halftime, during which Dandenong scored 18 of their own.
But the Braves regathered and scored 15 points in the final four minutes of the third quarter to enter the final period with momentum on their side.
The Rangers kept them at bay for much of the last term before Bendigo tied the scores 3.30 remaining in the contest.
Clutch shooting down the stretch from Bendigo, including a pair of huge threes in the final two minutes, was unable to be matched by Dandenong, who were forced to foul late in the game and hope for the best.
The Braves held strong, however, prevailing 89-85.
Point guard Jesse Ghee fell one assist shy of a double-double, handing out nine assists to go with his 28 points.
Back closer to home on Sunday, a gallant performance on the second day of a back-to-back wasn’t enough to get the better of Waverley.
The Rangers trailed at every break, only briefly holding the lead early in the fourth quarter before the Falcons flew home with the wind beneath their wings on a 17-9 scoring run in the final four minutes of play, to finish ahead 87-79.
A poor night at the free-throw line meant they left many points on the table, making only eight of their 17 shots taken.
Each starter scored in double figures, led by Jacob Eyman’s 18.
The weekend was not kind to the Rangers’ women’s side either, who also dropped both their contests to the same opposition.
Bendigo led from the jump on Saturday night, while a 34-19 third quarter in Waverley’s favour saw them create enough separation to withstand a final quarter run from the Rangers.
Two home games in round seven against North West Tasmania and Nunawading will offer another chance to lift themselves off the bottom of the ladder next week.
