By JARROD POTTER
CAVALIERS import Matt Pebole bid farewell to Cranbourne this week following the end of the 2014 Big V season.
Pebole, 24, from New Jersey, USA, packed his bags and left his adopted home for opportunities abroad as he heads to Spain to continue his international basketball journey.
His final match in the Casey colours was a grand-final double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) as he tried to keep the Cavaliers’ season alive, including a clutch three-pointer in the final seconds.
He has already flown out to Spain’s Basque region and Pebole will have a month-long trial with one of the local clubs to hopefully push himself to the next basketball step.
Pebole thanked the Cavaliers on Facebook for their support and wished the team future success.
“Just want to say thanks to everyone for making me feel so welcome and making my time at Casey so enjoyable,” Pebole said.
“I can’t thank everyone enough.
“Nothing but the best and hopefully I’ll be back sooner rather than later.”
Casey Cavaliers coach Stewart Baird said the versatile guard made his presence felt around Cranbourne on and off the court and would be missed next year.
“He’s been everything you could hope for in a first-time import,” Baird said.
“I was lucky enough that he lived with my family for the six months that he was here – we got to know him well off the court as well and he’s the perfect import on and off the floor.
“That’s why we took the chance and recruited him – the game tapes I saw of him showed he had versatility and we thought that would be important this year.
“He turned out to be exactly for what we hoped to be from a playing perspective – offensively and defensively – we threw some tough roles at him out of desperation and he took them on every time.”
On top of his fantastic numbers standing out impressively – as he averaged 19.9 points, 8.2 rebounds and three assists per game – Pebole’s great legacy will be his work rate off the court as he continuously set the bar high for himself.
“I think his work ethic was the biggest thing he leaves behind,” Baird said.
“He summed it up on Monday, after the Saturday night-Sunday end of year get-together with the boys, he was back at the gym at 9am Monday morning and lunchtime he was back at the stadium working out on his own and that’s the perfect example.
“He did that every day without fail and a lot of players – men or women – got to be a part of that with him.
“It’s that lesson of ‘this is what it takes if you want to make it’.”
Pebole has been nominated for two Big V Awards for his debut Australian basketball season – Division 2 Men’s All Star Guard and Most Valuable Player – with the awards night scheduled for Saturday 20 September at Etihad Stadium.
