Bendigo fly home in one for the ages

If you hadn’t seen the Bendigo Bank Braves Men’s 89-85 win against the Dandenong Rangers at Red Energy Arena on Saturday night, you wouldn’t have believed it.

It had more twists and turns than a Melbourne tram, with Bendigo starting like a freight train, finishing like a bullet train, and riding the slow coach in between.

With both import Adam Pechacek and captain Isaac Murphy out with injury, the Braves were up against it before the tipoff.

But a lightning start gave the large crowd confidence, Bijan Johnson hitting 10 first-quarter points as Bendigo led 29-16 at the first break.

The shots that fell in the first quarter for Bendigo simply didn’t in the second, reducing Bendigo’s lead to 46-44 at half time.

The third quarter was a nightmare for Bendigo, going scoreless for more than six minutes, while Dandenong dropped 14.

But with less than four minutes left in the quarter, things started to turn around for Bendigo. Lat Mayen and Billy Smythe stepped up with multiple baskets, and when Luke Rosendale scored his first points of the game with the last shot of the term, Bendigo was only down 61-68 at the final break.

From there, Rosendale exploded. The leftie hit 16 points in the last quarter, as Bendigo outscored Dandenong 41-27 in the last 14 minutes of the game.

Key baskets from Rosendale and Johnson in the home stretch sealed the win for Bendigo, one that will be talked about for a long time.

Johnson (19) Rosendale (18) and Mayen (17) were the Braves’ leading scorers for the night.

New import Christiaan Jones impressed with 11 points and nine rebounds, as did Smythe who ended the game with 12 points off the bench.

Coach Stephen Black said there was no one message that flicked the switch for the Braves.

“I would love to know what changed, but I think it was just a lot of the things we had been doing previously started working again,” he said.

“Our defense was substantially better this week, we got out and ran, and in the last quarter just started hitting open shots.”

Black said losing Pechacek and Murphy was a “big deal” for his team.

“If Luke didn’t score for the whole game he would have still had a great match,” he said.

“He was doing all the little things we expect from our players, especially our leaders. His defense work was amazing and he finished up with nine assists.

“What he did in the last quarter was enormous and it got us over the line. But even if he didn’t score he was having a huge influence on the game.”

Black was also full of praise for Smythe and Jones.

“Billy played the best game I have ever seen him play,” he said.

“He was really impressive defensively and he got on the boards. He was able to make an impact in the last quarter without having the ball in his hands.

“Even though he had no legs, Christiaan was able to get nine rebounds in the time he was on, which was a great contribution.”

Bendigo Braves next home game will be Saturday 27 May at Red Energy Arena. Tickets: https://premier.ticketek.com.au/shows/Show.aspx?sh=BENBRA0623