The Dandenong Rangers will hope that positives can be found from a pair of narrow losses over the weekend as they look to resurrect a dismal season.
On both occasions they were made to pay for poor periods of play earlier in the respective contests, with fourth-quarter fightbacks in both not enough to overcome deficits, losing by five and two points respectively.
Saturday night’s clash with Frankston at home was won and lost in the third term, where the visitors won the third quarter 30-9.
Careless ball-handling and allowing offensive rebounds cost the Rangers dearly in the third, and would have left the coaching staff furious.
The margin grew to 22 late in the third and hovered around that mark for much of the last before the Rangers mounted their comeback.
Led by Lawson Eales, Dandenong inched its way back into the game to cut the lead to just four points with 24 seconds remaining.
Forced to foul down the stretch, a pair of misses to Jack Roberts from behind the three-point line were costly, as Frankston left with a 95-90 victory.
Hearts were broken the following afternoon too, when a long two to Ringwood’s Jonathan Lawton put Dandenong down by two points with three seconds remaining.
At the other end of the floor, Mike Amius’ three-point shot to win the game was blocked, before Jesse Ghee missed on the rebound, with the final score reading 98-96 in Ringwood’s favour.
