At times their shooting touch abandoned them, offensive rebounds threatened to topple them and rushed passages of play stunted their momentum, but thanks largely to Orange’s Kobe Mansell the Bathurst Goldminers still managed a victory on Sunday.
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Mansell dropped 44 in the Goldminers’ 112-104 victory over the Blacktown Storm at Bathurst Indoor Sports Stadium, the side’s second win in as many days after taking down Macarthur by 18 points the day before.
The back-to-back victories keep the Bathurst side’s men’s Waratah Youth League division two finals dream alive, they’re just one spot shy of the finals frame in seventh with three rounds remaining.
Mansell also top scored in the Goldminers’ win over Macarthur with 25, but it was his effort in Sunday’s eight-point win that was far more influential.
He nailed his first three shots from beyond on the arc and helped the Goldminers shoot out to a 24-10 lead, and once Blacktown stormed back into the contest he dropped several crucial three-pointers in the final term as well, to fight the visitors off.
That Storm comeback came thanks to some late-arriving reserves, who helped their side back into the contest after the Goldminers began to rush in offence, their impatience showed on the scoreboard too.
The Storm may never have worked their way in front, but the visiting side brought the scoreline back to 55-48 by half-time.
The Goldminers’ strength in defence proved invaluable, but their inability to pick up offensive boards in the third quarter helped Blacktown stay close, so much so the Storm had cut the gap to four at the final break, at 84-40.
Blacktown pressed, especially on the inbound, but guards Mansell and Ben Matthews held their nerve when handling. The former, along with Nathan Germach, caught fire from downtown after that, helping relieve some pressure in the dying stages.
Anai Mathiang ensured the Bathurst side’s victory when, with the score at 110-104 and just 60 seconds left on the clock, he swatted away a Blacktown shot.
“It wasn’t pretty and I’m not sure why, because last night was really smooth and good to watch,” Goldminers coach Andrew Osborn said.
“We started reasonably well but got worse as the game went on. It was frustrating.
“Let’s not take anything away from Blacktown because they shot very well. It was their defence that let them down, and we were able to capitalise on that. Kobe in particular did a really good job.
“This should move us back to seventh and next week should be interesting because a lot of the sides around us are playing against each other.”
Matthews enjoyed his best back-to-back performances in Goldminers colours with hauls of 16 and 17 points across the Macarthur and Blacktown matches, while Germach and Mathiang both picked up 19 points on the Sunday too.