South Recap | Round 1 Sunday

Dandenong Rangers (98) defeated Diamond Valley Eagles (73)

Even without Nyadiew Puoch, the Dandenong Rangers continued their impressive first weekend of the NBL1 South season beating the Diamond Valley Eagles 98-73 at home on Sunday.

Dandenong lost Puoch early in their Saturday night season-opening win against the Casey Cavaliers as they backed up on Sunday afternoon in their home-opener at Dandenong Basketball Stadium.

Diamond Valley also played on Saturday night where they lost at home to Keilor Thunder, and both teams combined for 50 points in the first quarter with the Rangers only narrowly on top 26-24.

Dandenong did begin to open up a handy lead with 24 points to 18 in the second quarter but it wasn’t until the final stanza when the Rangers put their stamp on the contest outscoring the Eagles 27-12 for the eventual 25-point triumph.

That's two wins in less than 24 hours to start the season for Dandenong by a combined 67 points as they pulled down 51 rebounds to 31 from the Eagles including 18-11 at the offensive end and getting to the foul line 33 times to 22, even though Diamond made all 22 of their attempts.

Manuela Puoch stepped up in the absence of her sister for Dandenong ending up with 23 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals on 7/10 shooting from the floor and 8/10 at the foul line.

Amber Smith added 20 points, 12 rebounds and two assists, Dallas Loughridge 21 points, three boards, three assists and two steals, Georgia Booth 13 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals, and Imogen Rock 11 points, six boards, four steals and two blocks.

The two losses this weekend to open the season for Diamond Valley have come at a combined 41 points despite Abbey Ellis delivering 23 points, three rebounds and three assists.

Tayha Watkins also had 17 points and four rebounds, Orla O'Reilly 12 points, 10 boards, four assists and four steals, and Erin Riley 12 points, six rebounds and two steals.

DANDENONG RANGERS 98 (M Puoch 23, Loughridge 21, Smith 20)

DIAMOND VALLEY EAGLES 73 (Ellis 23, Watkins 17, O'Reilly 12, Riley 12)

Melbourne Tigers (74) lost to Sandringham Sabres (79)

Despite the heartwarming return of Sara Blicavs and big performance from Izzy Borlase, the Sandringham Sabres spoiled the home-opener of the Melbourne Tigers with he 79-74 Sunday victory.

Sandringham opened their season the previous night winning on the road also to the Frankston Blues while the Tigers began their 2025 campaign with the return from spinal fusion surgery of Blicavs at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.

With the emotional surrounding Blicavs' return and playing at home to start the season, Melbourne started impressively with 20 points to 13 in the first quarter after leading by as much as 13 following a 10-0 scoring run.

The Tigers were still leading 41-37 by half-time and then back out to a seven-point edge early in the third frame, but the Sabres ended up taking charge from there and when they scored 10 consecutive points in the fourth term, the game was done.

The Tigers still kept in touch but Sandringham ended up winning by five for the perfect start to the season with two road wins this weekend on the back of hitting 10/20 from three-point range as a team including 3/5 from Haylee Andrews.

She finished with 18 points, 14 rebounds and three assists with Lucy Cochrane contributing 13 points, four boards and two blocks, Isis Lopes 13 points, five assists, four steals and three rebounds, Klara Wischer 12 points and seven boards, and Sierra Woodhouse 12 points and two rebounds.

It was a standout return for the Tigers from the career-threatening spinal injury for Sara Blicavs who finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds in almost 34 minutes.

Izzy Borlase also delivered 25 points, nine steals and seven rebounds with Sienna Harvey contributing 15 points, six boards, two assists and two blocked shots.

MELBOURNE TIGERS 74 (Borlase 25, Blicavs 20, Harvey 15)

SANDRINGHAM SABRES 79 (Andrews 18, Lopes 13, Cochrane 13)

MEN

Keilor Thunder (76) lost to Mount Gambier Pioneers (100)

The Mount Gambier Pioneers made it the perfect weekend to start their 2025 season with two wins on the road after beating Keilor Thunder 100-76 on Sunday afternoon.

On the back of losing last year's preliminary final in heartbreaking fashion after claiming the regular season championship, Mount Gambier started their 2025 season with a commanding road win over Geelong United on Saturday night.

Keilor also opened their season the previous night with a road victory over the Diamond Valley Eagles so one of the teams was going to make a perfect 2-0 start, and it was the Pioneers starting on fire with 28 points to 15 in the first quarter.

The Pioneers continued to build on that advantage the rest of the way with it getting out to 21 points in the second period, 27 in the third and 30 in the fourth before they secured the 24-point victory to go 2-0 after two games in less than 24 hours on the road.

The major difference was in the three-point shooting between the two teams with the Pioneers knocking down 13/36 while the Thunder went at 6/27 with Mount Gambier also attempting 10 extra field goals to win the possession game.

Joe Palmer had a standout performance in the win for the Pioneers with 25 points, 12 rebounds and three assists on knocking down 4/6 from downtown.

Austin Shelley made 6/11 from behind the arc for 20 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals while Titus Robinson contributed 18 points and four boards, Akech Aliir 16 points, five rebounds, four blocks and three assists, and Alex Mudronja 12 points, seven assists and five boards.

All 12 players ended up hitting the floor for Keilor with Deng Cut top-scoring with 18 points and two steals while Daniel Foster provided 14 points, 10 boards and six assists, and Daniel Poelsma 14 points and two rebounds.

KEILOR THUNDER 76 (Dut 18, Poelsma 14, Foster 14)

MOUNT GAMBIER PIONEERS 100 (Palmer 25, Shelley 20, Robinson 18)

Dandenong Rangers (100) lost to Diamond Valley Eagles (105)

The Diamond Valley Eagles stormed home with a 34-point fourth quarter on the way to an impressive 105-100 win in a high quality contest with the Dandenong Rangers.

Both teams opened their 2025 seasons on Saturday night with Dandenong narrowly going down away to the Casey Cavaliers while Diamond Valley also lost on their home floor to Keilor Thunder.

The Rangers had their home opener on Sunday at Dandenong Basketball Stadium and started well with 28 points to 19 in the first quarter before Diamond Valley responded with 29 points to 19 in the second term.

Despite being down 13 early in the second quarter, the Eagles were leading 48-47 by half-time but Dandenong worked back on top to be leading by five at three quarter-time.

It was Diamond Valley's turn to pick back up the momentum in the final quarter with 34 points to 24 to claim the five-point victory to open their account for 2025 and send Dandenong to 0-2 after last year's semi-final appearance.

Dandenong ended up losing despite pulling down 22 offensive rebounds and having 18 extra field goal attempts but Diamond Valley shot 53.7 per cent from the field and made 10/23 from three-point land, and 23/29 at the foul line.

Ngor Manyang continues to be a central focus for everything the Eagles do and the versatile big man finished with 23 points, five rebounds and two assists.

Jesse Ghee added 21 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals, Jock Perry 21 points, 16 rebounds and three assists, Adam Thoseby 18 points and five boards, and Jesse McIntosh 12 points, two rebounds and two steals.

Bryton Hobbs was outstanding despite the loss for Dandenong with 35 points, four rebounds and three assists with Jack Roberts adding 14 points and seven rebounds, Ryan Rapp 13 points, four boards and four assists, and Bayley Rough 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals.

DANDENONG RANGERS 100 (Hobbs 35, Roberts 14, Rapp 13)

DIAMOND VALLEY EAGLES 105 (Manyang 23, Ghee 21, Perry 21)

Melbourne Tigers (100) defeated Sandringham Sabres (69)

The Melbourne Tigers opened their 2025 season on fire with co-captains Tom Wilson and Jack Purchase unstoppable and they ended up combining for 55 points in the 100-69 win against the Sandringham Sabres.

It was the first game of the season for the Andrew Gaze-coached Tigers as the team that sat out the Saturday night action and they played host to the Sabres at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.

Sandringham did play the previous night with a 23-point loss also on the road at the hands of the Frankston Blues, but it didn’t take long for the Tigers to put their stamp on the contest.

With Wilson and Purchase on fire early, Melbourne raced out to a 24-2 lead before heading into quarter-time on top 35-8 with their co-captains leading the charge.

In the first quarter alone, Purchase made 4/5 from downtown for 14 points and Wilson made his two three-point attempts as well for 12 points.

Combine that with forcing Sandringham into seven turnovers and 1/10 shooting, and it was the perfect start to the game for the Tigers and they pretty much cruised to the victory from there.

Melbourne were still leading 66-30 by half-time with the advantage getting out to as much as 44 points by the final term and the Tigers ended up starting their season in mighty impressive fashion with the 31-point victory against last year's preliminary finalists.

The Tigers scored their 100 points on shooting 54.9 per cent from the field along with going 16/29 from downtown while the Sabres only managed to go at 36.1 per cent overall and 3/17 from deep.

Tom Wilson finished with 30 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals for Melbourne on 10/13 shooting from the field and 4/5 from three while Jack Purchase had 25 points, eight boards, three blocks and two steals with 7/10 from three-point territory.

Kai Garnaut also had 10 points and three rebounds, and Michael Wearne nine points and four assists.

Fresh off being part of the NBL Championship Series at Melbourne United, Tom Koppens finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds for Sandringham with CJ Asuncion-Byrd contributing 12 points and five boards, Malith Machar 12 points and four rebounds, and Sammy Cartwright 13 points and seven boards.

MELBOURNE TIGERS 100 (Wilson 30, Purchase 25, Garnaut 10)

SANDRINGHAM SABRES 69 (Koppens 15, Cartwright 13, Machar 12, Asuncion-Byrd 12)