With Benalla’s Indoor Recreation Centre still deemed unsafe to play in by the Benalla Rural City Council, the Breakers were forced to hit the road for both games this weekend, heading to Wodonga on Saturday and backing it up on Sunday afternoon with a trip to Wallan.
A resounding 81-40 win over the Wolves on Saturday night before a hard-fought 80-60 triumph over Wallan the following day has the Breakers sitting at a cool 5-0.
Breakers coach Wally Armstrong said there were some pleasing elements from Saturday night’s performance, with a number of starters rested in the second half before Sunday’s game.
“There were some really positive signs on Saturday night after a slow start, we certainly got going and got some very important minutes into a few players that hadn’t seen a lot of court time,” Armstrong said.
“We were consistent across the board, we didn’t have anyone post outstandingly big scores, we just had consistency and a lot of game flow we’d been working on.
“It was a good, solid win, it was an even first quarter, but we got over them in the next two quarters and we had a majority of starters that sat out of the second half to look after our players.”
After a dominant win on Saturday, Armstrong said the win over Wallan on Sunday was more of a grind across four quarters.
“Sunday’s game might have looked solid, but it wasn’t — sometimes you just have to win ugly, and we won ugly,” he said.
“With a couple of minutes to go the game got back to nine points, it certainly wasn’t an easy game and hats off to Wallan, they’re a young side that took it up to us in all levels of basketball.”
Contributions from all across the court on the weekend were a major factor behind the two wins, as a number of Armstrong’s men start to hit their straps this year.
“We were well-lead by our captain Lachy Kego, he’s awesome on the boards and was a strong scorer in both games,” Armstrong said.
“Tom Downie is really starting to find his feet, while he wasn’t a massive scorer, his contributions on the boards and taking the pressure off Lachy is important.
“We were well-led by Eric (Miraflores) as well, he has his frustrating periods being a good player, the opposition really put some time into him and work him over, but to his credit he keeps bouncing back.
“And Jordan Birch when he’s playing the point, he controls the play well and he’s certainly starting to grow in stature.”
The Breakers enjoy the bye round this weekend, before a highly-anticipated grand final rematch against Seymour at Benalla Indoor Recreation Centre on Sunday, November 6.
“We know where we’re at and we know where we want to be,” Armstrong said.
“There’s some upsides there, but the test comes in two weeks when we play the powerhouse.
“We know internally what we need to work on and just have to remain positive and trust each other, you can’t be better than 5-0, but we’re certainly not getting carried away.”
Benalla Rural City Council is expected to provide an update on the condition of the Breakers’ home courts and whether the centre can re-open this week.
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