Gabe Evans couldn’t have asked for a better return to the Whittlesea Pacers.
Evans played his youth league basketball at the Pacers before moving to Shepperton to play in Big V division 1 competition.
This season he made his return to the Pacers and did it in style taking out the league’s division 2 most valuable player award. Evans averaged 17 points per game, nine rebounds and almost four assists for the Pacers.
“I felt really welcomed by the club,” Evans said.
“The whole club environment was really good this year, being a new player I didn’t expect it to be as smooth of a transition as it was.
“Coming into a new team and getting a few awards is always a great thing as well.”
Coming from a higher standard of basketball, Evans said he had a goal of showing what he can do on the court and having an influence for his team.
“I was hoping to be a fairly prominent player in the team,” he said. “Every time I’ve gone to play I’ve wanted to be the best player.
“But winning the MVP is a bit more than I did expect.”
Still being a young player Evans said there were a range of factors that went into him being crowned as the league’s best. He was also named in the all-star five.
“I think it was a bit of growth for myself and a bit more confidence about how I went about it,” he said.
“It’s a credit to the team, there wasn’t always a pressure on me to perform.
“I was more of a beneficiary of other people’s work and I was lucky enough to be the one who ended up with a bit more of the glory afterwards.
“It was a bit more confidence in myself, a bit more belief and then everyone else playing their role really well allowed me to excel in mine.”
However, while the MVP is an excellent recognition of Evans’ work he said the grand final loss has been a hard pill to swallow. The Pacers only lost once in the regular season before losing twice in the finals by a total margin of six points, both to the Altona Gators.
“It still hurts a bit,” he said.
“Winning the award is still a bit bittersweet, that we couldn’t finish the job… it was really heartbreaking.
“[Winning a champioship] is the next step. Individual accolades aren’t quite as sweet when it’s not accompanied with a premiership.”
Harper Sercombe
