THE Symes Motors Bendigo Braves are back at the top of the SEABL east conference.
One year after the club missed the play-offs, the Braves were crowned SEABL east conference champions for the third time in six years on Saturday night after they downed the Knox Raiders 87-83 in a thrilling grand final at Bendigo Stadium.
The Braves depth was telling in the second half as the Raiders’ starters ran out of puff.
The Braves were lucky to be only six points down at the main break before hitting their straps in the second half.
In the first half the Braves struggled from the perimeter, but that all changed late in the third term. It was star imports Ivan McFarlin and Luke Meyer that swung the game back Bendigo’s way.
With the Braves down by five points with 3.22 remaining in the quarter, McFarlin nailed a three-point bomb and then took a charge off Knox star C.J. Massingale at the other end of the court.
The next play of the game McFarlin scored again to level the scores for the first time since late in the first term.
A Lester Strong free throw briefly gave the Raiders the lead again before two plays from Meyer ignited the Braves cowd.
Meyer accepted a superb pass from Kevin Probert and scored to give the Braves the lead before nailing a three-pointer to extend the margin to four.
In 100 seconds the Braves had unleashed a 10-1 run and the parochial crowd was now a huge part of the game.
Leading by four going into the final term, the Braves needed to maintain their momentum.
On the first play of the quarter, Chris Hogan, who hadn’t had a major effect on the game in the first three quarters, connected from behind the three-point arc to give his side the perfect start.
Less than two minutes later Warren Randall made his first three-point basket of the night to make the margin 10 points.
Strong scored to make it eight points, before Hogan made another three-point bomb to extend the margin to 11.
Knox looked fatigued, but on the back of inspirational skipper Sean Carroll they continued to fight hard. But every time the Raiders worked the deficit into single figures the Braves came up with a big shot.
A Probert three-pointer followed by Hogan’s third three-pointer of the quarter made the lead 13 with 4.22 remaining and the Braves could sense victory.
They appeared to have the championship in their keeping when they led by 10 points with just two minutes on the clock.
However, the Braves offence stalled and seven-straight points to the never-say-die Raiders cut the home side’s lead to three points with 50 seconds remaining.
A Braves turnover gave the ball back to the Raiders and Massingale scored to make the margin one-point with 20 seconds left.
Two seconds later Randall was fouled and the Braves co-captain walked to the foul line knowing he needed to make both his free throws to wrest the momentum from the Raiders.
Under immense pressure Randall calmly made both free throws to give the Braves a three-point lead.
Knox had one last play to try and force overtime and as expected they worked the ball to Massingale on the left wing.
The Raiders’ import did his best to shake-off Meyer, but as he had all night the Braves star made life hard for Massingale and his desperate three-point attempt failed to hit the ring.
McFarlin gleefully grabbed the ball and he was immediately fouled by Knox with four seconds on the clock.
McFarlin needed to make one of his two free throws to seal the championship.
With the crowd hushed with expectation and his coaches and benched teammates on the edge of their seats, McFarlin missed his first attempt to add more drama to the night.
His second attempt found nothing but the bottom of the net and the celebrations began.
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