Tara Murray
Whittlesea Pacers received a wake up call in its quest to claim the Big V men’s division 1 title.
Having finished second on the ladder, the Pacers hosted Gippsland United, with a double chance up their sleeve.
The match proved to be a high scoring one with both teams passing the 100 point total.
United managed to do enough despite the Pacers coming hard late to win, 116-109.
Pacers coach Des Radoslovic said they took a lot out of that game with some areas to work on.
“It was a good game with both teams’ offences having strong games,” he said.
“You definitely know you’re going to give up points but there were a lot of things we could control, but we didn’t take control of..
“We knew it was going to be a high scoring game, but gave up more on the defensive end than we would have liked.”
Jason Dirkx top scored with 29 points while Meekness Payne scored 28.
Radoslovic said they would tinker with a few things during the week, but said they wouldn’t make too many changes from what has been working.
“We have earned a double chance with finishing second,” he said. “We are in the same position we would have been had we won, playing a final this week.
“We learn from losses and we still back ourselves to win three more games to get the championship.”
Standing in the Pacers this week of preliminary final, is a familiar foe in the Altona Gators.
The two sides have faced each other six times in the past two years, with five matches decided by five points or less.
One of those was the division 2 grand final win to the Gators last year.
Radoslovic said there’s a bit of a rivalry between the two teams.
“We’ve had some close ones,” he said. “It’s one of those things and yes there’s a bit of a rivalry.
“We had a wake up call on the weekend about finals level intensity. We don’t need any extra momentum to get up this week. We’re looking forward to the match up.”
Tara Murray
