Dragons too good for Blaze and Heal in physical NBL match

The South Dragons have delivered a stinging NBL victory over the Gold Coast Blaze and former player-coach Shane Heal, downing them 107-90 to continue their winless streak this season.

It was the first match-up for Heal and his former club after being dumped last season, and despite a close-scoring first half, the four-time Olympian was unable to take away a significant victory of his own.

After an even first half, the Dragons romped away to an unassailable lead to win the match by 17 points at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The loss cements the Blaze’s position at the bottom of the NBL ladder, with the Gold Coast now winless from four games this season.

The Dragons meanwhile asserted their strength with a dominant second half led by Beijing Olympian Mark Worthington, who top-scored for his team with 20 points.

Coming off the back of a strong performance in the Blaze’s loss to the Perth Wildcats last week, Heal had little impact at the start although his every rare touch provoked a cheer from the home crowd.

The game started physically, with both teams keen to prove a point at the first buzzer, with strong defensive pressure from both sides forcing turnovers and flubbed shots.

The Dragons took a 48-45 lead at halftime before stunning the Blaze in the second half, striding away to a 20-point lead at one point before finishing off 107-90.

James Harvey was the best performer for the Blaze, shooting a game-high 23 points, while Heal finished with 19.

The Dragons are now 3-2 for the season and meet the Hawks in Wollongong on Saturday, while the Blaze have another chance to celebrate their first win on home turf against the Spirit on October 10.

Blaze coach Brendan Joyce said the team was feeling the heat with their unimpressive win-loss record, but reminded fans of the club’s similar tally this time last season when they went on to contest the playoffs.

He said lapses in concentration cost them their chance of stealing a winnable game.

“We fell away on the defensive end, we didn’t do what we wanted to do,” he said.

“I think for three quarters we were pretty good, we just missed a lot of the little easy lay-ups … but especially in the first half, we could have been eight, ten (points) up.”

He dismissed talk about Heal and his face-off with his old club, focusing instead on the leadership qualities he displayed on the court.

A disappointed Ben Melmeth said the squad was ruing their poor start to the season, harshly dismissing his own positive performance from the game.

“I don’t give a f…… shit about that to be honest. We got pummelled in front of a home crowd,” he said.

“It does hurt, but we have just got to come back.”

Dragons coach Brian Goorjian praised his troops for tightening the reins in the second half and shutting down the Blaze, who he admitted had the “motivation” for victory.

“To come up here and play a team with their backs against the wall, that was obviously pretty motivated, I think it was a great win,” said Goorjian.

He said the Blaze weren’t the only ones desperate to take home the points tonight.

“It’s desperate stakes, it’s early in the year, but we only play 30 games … so we were in desperate stakes as well tonight,” he said.

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