Sport
28 October, 2025
Blazers succumb to reigning premiers
The Maryborough Men’s Blazers produced a strong showing against the undefeated reigning premiers, but were unable to recover from a 38-point Castlemaine Cannons barrage in the second quarter in a 97-75 defeat.
That pivotal second period saw the Cannons go on two separate 11-0 runs to bookend the period, which ironically combined together ended as the final margin for Maryborough, losing by 22 points.
Although scheduled to play a double header last weekend, the Blazers’ Sunday match against the Bendigo Braves was abandoned before a ball could be bounced due to roof leaks dripping some of Sunday’s heavy rain onto the court.
Despite entering into this match as the heavy underdogs against the first-placed Cannons, the Blazers brought the fight to the current champions early, with Harry Alsop and Kynan Carter leading the way in a frantic opening to the contest.
Castlemaine threatened to pull away late in the first quarter with a nine-point lead, but a pair of threes from Alsop and Bailey Jacobs limited the margin to six at the opening break.
However, the Blazers couldn’t stop the Cannons from firing endless offensive artillery at the start of the second period, going on an 11-0 run that ballooned the margin out to 17 points.
Buckets from Jacobs and Swards midway through the quarter attempted to stem Maryborough’s bleeding, but Castlemaine remained relentless, outscoring the Blazers 38-16 in the second quarter to take a 28-point lead into half time.
After several spells of offensive dominance by Castlemaine proved costly in the first half, Maryborough recovered quickly from an early Cannons flourish to open the third quarter and began to slow their opponents on defence. That included a spell lasting over three minutes where the Blazers didn’t concede a point.
However, despite the scoring of Swards and Jacobs, Maryborough couldn’t make any inroads into Castlemaine’s advantage, still trailing by 28 points at three-quarter time.
Even with the Cannons’ victory virtually assured, the Blazers produced some of their best basketball of the season so far to open the final period, with Jacobs and Alsop combining to go on an 11-3 run.
Despite winning the final quarter 19-13, it wasn’t enough for Maryborough to get back into the match, allowing the Cannons to move to a 5-0 start while the Blazers now have the inverse record.
For the fourth time this season, Jacobs led Maryborough in scoring with 22 points, currently sitting fourth in the CBL North West Men’s league scoring charts.
Swards added 15 points while the emerging Alsop continues to have an impressive season for the Blazers, finishing with 14 points.
With Sunday’s scheduled match looking to be rescheduled after being abandoned, the Blazers’ next contest is currently scheduled to be against the 4-2 Macedon Ranges Rockies