THE Bendigo Braves have locked up second place on the SEABL south conference ladder after winning both of their matches over the weekend.
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A 23-13 burst in the final quarter saw the Braves shake off Frankston 90-78 on Saturday night, while on Sunday the Braves overcame eastern conference power the Geelong Supercats 93-81 in overtime at Bendigo Stadium.
The weekend results mean the Braves can’t lose second place no matter what happens in this Friday night’s final regular season match against Brisbane in Bendigo.
The Braves will play top side Mt Gambier in Mt Gambier in the major semi-final on August 21.
“To sew up second spot with a week to spare is nice,’’ Braves coach Ben Harvey said.
“With five wins in a row we’ve got some momentum going now and we really want to win again next Friday to keep that momentum building for the Mt Gambier game. Mt Gambier is the best team in the competition, but Geelong did beat them on Friday night, so they are beatable.”
Probert stepped up offensively for the Braves. The co-captain was 11-17 from behind the three-point arc over the two games.
He scored 21 points in the win against Frankston and then backed up with 26 points, including eight three-pointers in Sunday’s win over Geelong.
The win over Geelong was a major confidence-builder for the Braves.
Geelong led for the majority of the match, including a 10-point margin with one minute to go in the third term. Two Probert three-pointers in the dying seconds of the term cut the deficit to four points at the final change.
The Supercats jumped out to a five-point lead midway through the final term, but again the Braves bounced back.
Co-captain Chris Hogan found his range from behind the three-point line and another three from Probert gave the Braves an unlikely two-point lead with three minutes remaining in the game. With 48 seconds on the clock Taylor Bell nailed a three-pointer to give the Braves a three-point lead.
Geelong’s Barrett made one of two free throws to cut Bendigo’s lead to one point before Braves import Tony Lewis had a chance to ice the game.
Lewis drew a foul with five seconds remaining, but he missed both free throws to give Geelong a lifeline. Supercats’ Nathan Herbert grabbed the chance, nailing a basket to send the game into overtime.
The overtime period was one-way traffic as Grant Johnson hit two threes and Probert another to lead the home side to victory.
