BENDIGO Braves co-captain Kevin Probert says last week’s win over North West Tasmania gives the side renewed confidence that it can topple Mt Gambier and claim the SEABL south conference title on Friday night.
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The Braves won their way into Friday night’s grand final against Mt Gambier with a 10-point win over North West Tasmania in the preliminary final.
Last Saturday night’s victory over North West Tasmania came on the back of the Braves having been beaten by the Thunder in both their home and away meetings – one of which had been a 42-point hammering.
The Braves travel to Mt Gambier’s Icehouse with a 0-3 record against the Pioneers this season, and not having beaten their grand final opponents since 2013.
“We hadn’t beaten North West Tasmania before last week, so to be able to turn that around and win last week, we don’t see any reason why we can’t do that either on Friday night against Mt Gambier,” Probert said.
“There’s no doubt we’ll need some luck, but at the end of the day, it’s five guys from each team out on the court and we feel that if our effort level is there, we can get the result we want.”
After an up-and-down first half of the season in which they were 7-6 after 13 games, the Braves have built strongly to qualify for their fifth conference grand final since 2008 with a 10-3 record over their past 13 games.
“We’ve got a really deep team and the big thing in this second half of the year is everyone knows their role,” Probert said.
“Guys know where they fit in, but we’ve also got a lot of experience with guys who have played in conference finals and national finals before.
“We believe that experience will hold us in good stead on Friday night.”
Tony Lewis (20.0 ppg), Grant Johnson (18.9), Michael Vigor (12.9), Probert (9.7) and Josh Wilcher (9.4) have led the Braves’ scoring this season, while Lewis has been dominant on the glass with a league-best 12.2 rebounds per game.
Bendigo has the chance for a conference championship double this weekend.
As well as the Braves playing on Friday night, the Bendigo Lady Braves will host Kilsyth in the women’s south conference grand final from 7pm on Saturday night.
“It would be fantastic if both teams can get through to play for a national title… it would be a great way to celebrate the club’s 30th year,” Probert said.
THIS SEASON’S MEETINGS:
May 23 – Mt Gambier 87 d Bendigo 86.
June 26 – Mt Gambier 86 d Bendigo 72.
Semi-final – Mt Gambier 83 d Bendigo 66.