By Marcus Uhe
Dandenong men’s team fell agonisingly short of its fourth win of the NBL1 South on Saturday night in a three-point loss to Keilor at Keilor Stadium.
A poor first half meant the Rangers were playing catch-up for the majority of the ballgame, and despite the fast-finish they were unable to close the gap, losing 81-84.
Keilor held the Rangers at arms-length for the majority of the contest, having established a double-figure lead in the second quarter.
Dandenong’s starters were impressive early, but experienced a scoring drought of six minutes from midway through the first quarter to early in the second, during which their opponents scored 16.
At halftime the Thunder were 10 points ahead, having kept the Rangers to just 36 points in the first half
Dandenong chipped away at the lead for much of the third quarter but for everything it threw at their hosts, Keilor seemed to have an answer.
Despite winning the quarter, they still trailed by eight heading into the last quarter with work to do.
But a Deng Puoch three, two minutes into the quarter, cut the lead to just two points, and the game was well-and-truly up for grabs.
Both sides traded baskets down the stretch, with Elijah Duol tying the contest at 70 points apiece with five minutes remaining.
In spite of tying the scores on a number of occasions, however, Keilor never relinquished the ascendency down the stretch.
With 26 seconds remaining, equating to just over one full possession, Dandenong had the chance to tie the scores and pray that their opponents missed a final shot, to force the game to overtime.
Cruelly, they had just played 23 seconds of brilliant defence, but conceded a tough layup to Robbie Heath as the shot clock expired at the other end of the court.
10 seconds into the possession, Jesse Ghee drove the lane but lost control of the ball on his way to the rim, turning the ball over in the process.
As a result, they were forced to foul or roll the dice on a steal attempt with 16 seconds remaining.
Ghee stole the looped inbound pass and converted on the fast break, before Jack Roberts was forced to foul.
Heath made his free-throws, leaving one possession left to tie the scores.
The responsibility fell to Ghee, who’s three-point shot came ever so close to dropping off the backboard, but ultimately had too much on it, and Keilor secured the rebound as the clock ran out.
Deng Puoch top scored for the visitors with 26 points and Jason Roberts recorded a 20-point 10-rebound double-double.
The contest wasn’t as tight for the Rangers’ women’s side, despite 32 points from superstar Nyadiew Puoch.
Only one other Rangers’ teammate scored in double figures as the Rangers were outscored in each of the first three quarters on their way to a 72-83 loss.
The women are languishing mid-table in 11th, while the men remain anchored to last place.
Both teams get the long weekend off to freshen-up, before heading down the highway to face Geelong on Saturday 17 June.
