Wallan Panthers’ division two men stuck to their game plan at the weekend, playing a tight game against rivals Surf Coast.
Each quarter was tense right from the jump ball, as Surf Coast produced a two-point layup which was returned by Dominic Bruno giving Wallan its first two points on the scoreboard.
Both sides were eager to title themselves the dominating team, with Surf Coast and Wallan continuously on each other’s backs to make sure the ball landed in their own baskets.
Several baskets from each side saw the scoreboard tied at times, specifically in the second quarter when a timeout occurred with the game at 19-19.
While Surf Coast was in the lead by the end of each quarter, Wallan was not too far behind, however the side fell short with an 87-72 defeat in round eight of the Big V competition.
Despite the loss, coach Travis Heal said Wallan kept to its game plan with a few standout players including captain Dominic Bruno and Arcaim Lallemand.
“I thought we were really good. We stuck to our game plan, [Surf Coast] they had three really good players, we tried to take one of the players out … and it wasn’t until the last quarter that [the player] started to score,” he said.
“Dominic Bruno was very good, for us he scored and controlled the tempo of the game really well – that’s something we’ve been working on.
“I thought Arcaim [Lallemand] was good, he battled away inside.”
Each round has looked different for the Panthers, with a mixed bag of losses and a win against Collingwood in round five of the competition.
Heal said the side was improving in following its game plan.
“I think we just find more of a controlled sort of game and sticking to our game plan a little bit more,” he said.
“Rather than training on Tuesday, we just sat down and watched our last game and came together and agreed that we needed to sort of buy into the plan a little bit more – that’s why it was pleasing on the weekend that we did that.
“We won’t be changing anything, I think the direction that we’re going in is the right direction – and again, we’re just coming together as a team, and we’ll continue as we are, but hopefully get better at doing what we do.”
Wallan has a bye in round nine but will return in round 10 against Craigieburn – a chance for Wallan to make a redemption from round six against the side.
Women
It was a tense game for the women’s Wallan Panthers’ women, with the last quarter against Melbourne University proving to be the most difficult.
It was a promising start for Wallan, with Kylah Collins winning the jump ball to then making the first basket of the game with a two-point layup.
Signs of Melbourne making defeat were shown during the start of the third quarter when the side performed defensively, but Wallan did not allow Melbourne to take its dominating position just yet.
A close game against Melbourne, Wallan seemed like it had the winning outcome as they trailed the game for the first three quarters, but the side’s lacking defence was how Wallan saw a 64-59 defeat.
Coach Jarrod Bridge said Melbourne showed a good, defensive game.
“The most part we led, which is probably a little bit more disappointing, we led for pretty much three quarters of the game,” he said.
“But I think that [Melbourne] played really good defence, which held us to a lower score and then from our end – and something that I think we’ve been struggling with – [is] our team defence … [which] has really lacked energy and effort.
“Obviously the last few results have been losses … normally we should be able to win those games.”
For the last few games Wallan has kept its eye on defence, and though this will remain the focus going into future games, Bridge noted that other areas to improve included on-court trust.
“Last few weeks have really been heavily working on [defence], we have good individual defenders, so if I give an assignment, generally speaking, the girls are really good at playing one-on-one defence,” Bridge said.
“It’s when we go into team-based, so backing each other up … and little things like that, where there’s multiple people having to communicate – we seem to drop off.”
Heading into round nine, Wallan will host RMIT Redbacks this Saturday.
