By ROY WARD
DANDENONG Rangers men have to improve their defence and do so in a hurry after a disappointing loss to Knox Raiders at the State Basketball Centre in the South East Australian Basketball League on Saturday night.
The Raiders won 103-85 on the back of a 37-point outburst from star CJ Massingale, with the Rangers failing to close out on the Raiders, who posted 61 points in the first half alone.
The home side’s lead got above 25 points in the second half only for the Rangers to go on a 14-point run which got them back within 12 before the home side again broke away to record an important win.
Rangers point guard Andrew Harms (26 points )was the only Ranger to score consistently.
Rangers coach Darren Perry was frustrated with his side’s defence against the red-hot Raiders. “Our adjustments were too late and our best efforts came too late as well,” he said.
With some of his best players struggling, Perry went to lesser used players such as Tim Martin (two points, four rebounds in seven minutes) and Oresti Nitsios(seven points, one steal in 17 minutes).
“We saw some good efforts from a few guys who haven’t played a lot,” Perry said. “I’m happy we saw them get out there and play hard. You don’t have to be a superstar to play defence, hit the boards and not make it easy for the opposition to get the ball.”
The Rangers thrashed Canberra Gunners 102-69 at Dandenong yesterday with Tony Lewis scoring 26 points.
The Rangers host North-West Tasmania at Dandenong Stadium this Saturday night at 7.30pm.
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