Heart of the Warrior

Not many people saw that coming. Wangaratta’s men’s CBL side produced one of the more remarkable weekends of results, winning both of their matches against Swan Hill and Wallan under some extreme adversity. Saturday night’s match with Swan Hill was always going to be a logistical challenge for the Warriors as much as a basketball one – while the Flyers haven't been lighting the league on fire, they had the advantage of playing at home, which meant Wangaratta had to make the almost eight-hour round trip for their game. With many of the young Warriors prioritising studying for their exams, rightly so, the Warriors took a skeleton crew to the Swan Hill Basketball Stadium. Six players hit the court across the night, with just one on the bench and five in action at any time, but somehow they overcame the odds to post the win 81-62. Wangaratta came out firing, taking an early lead into quarter time, but the Flyers fought hard to cut the Warriors’ lead to just three points, the scoreboard reading 32-29 by the half. With a reduced bench, fatigue started to set in, but you couldn’t tell by looking at the Warriors, who strung together an impressive third term to push the lead out to 11, before putting the final nail in the coffin in the fourth. Brock Buckland led the scoring with 25 points to his name, but Cooper Clark (17), Sam Kain (16) and Charlie Maher (16) also hit the scoreboard in a major way. Spirits were high on the return journey, but a dark force loomed over them, the spectre of the undefeated Wallan Panthers awaiting them on the court on Sunday. The Panthers showed their class early, but a dominant second half saw the Warriors emerge victorious, 92-74. A nine-point quarter time lead was carried across the second term, with Wangaratta down by 10 points at the major break. With their backs against the wall, the Warriors charged, putting 30 points on the Panthers through the third term, and limiting their foe to just 10 in the fourth quarter to complete the 28-point turnaround and send shockwaves off stunned silence across the competition. Buckland was impressive again, backing up his heroics with an 11-point game (three threes), but Coopers Newton (22 pts) and Clark (16) were the real offensive titans, with Sam Kain (14) a reliable asset in the paint. In the space of a weekend, the Warriors have gone from bottom-feeders of the competition to being one game out from legitimate finals calculations, and have proved to the league and most importantly themselves they belong at the level. Just three weekends and five games remain in the season – how high can the Warriors climb?

Heart of the Warrior

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