FOUR wins from four games has the men’s and women’s Seymour Blasters basketball teams roaring after round 1 of the 2026 Country Basketball League (CBL) season.
Both teams opened the year with double headers, playing back-to-back at Seymour Sports and Aquatic Centre on Saturday night before each hitting the road Sunday morning.
The men’s North East division title defence got off to the perfect start, with an emphatic 38-point over the Myrtleford Saints.
The Blasters were dominant from start to finish, handily outscoring their opponents in each quarter and flexing their muscles in the last to increase the margin from 26 to 38.
Facing a tougher task on Sunday, the men travelled to Echuca to take on the Pirates who jumped out to an early lead.
But thanks largely to Tyler Best, the Blasters produced a 30-12 point second quarter to establish a margin that the Pirates just couldn’t reel in.
An eventual 82-72 win perched Seymour at the top of the table.
Best had a huge weekend, turning in 31- and 30-point performances against the Saints and Pirates respectively to lead his side.
In the women’s CBL North East competition, the double-header served up two opportunities for the Blasters against the Echuca Pirates.
The home court advantage was immense for Seymour, which had Marley Pascoe and Chloe Dimkopoulos both cross the 20-point mark and a further four players in double figures.
The game was over by half-time, the scoreboard reading 53-8, but the Blasters kept piling on the points to win by 71.
In the rematch the following day up in Echuca, the Pirates were much more spirited, but a 21-7 opening quarter from the Blasters proved the difference.
Dimkopoulos again proved a force, dropping in 13 points to lead her side.
The battle of the best basketballers in Mitchell Shire returns this weekend as the Wallan Panthers men’s and women’s sides both head to Seymour.
It’s a rematch of last year’s grand final in the men’s, and both sides will be eager to get the win to establish themselves as the frontrunner out of the two.
