The Lakers Senior Men’s basketballers continued their domination of the South West Conference Country Victoria Basketball League by pulling off its third title in four years of competing in this top level Country competition.

In the 2010/11, their first year, the Lakers were runners-up to the Barwon Bullets. In the next two seasons the Lakers went one better by defeating Corio Bay twice and last Saturday night defied all odds to make it a big three-peat against the Horsham Hornets.

This 2013/14 result is possibly the sweetest of all for the team because at the end of the regulation season the Lakers were precariously placed fourth and not considered serious contenders in this finals series.

The Lakers provided the upset of the Conference semi-finals by defeating minor premier, Warrnambool, by 16 points. Star of the game was Lakers’ Simon Berkefeld, who finished with a total of 34 points, 18 in the barn-storming final quarter.

The tag of “underdog” obviously sits well with the Lakers because the Horsham Hornets, who had lost just one game at home this season, were warm pre-match favourites on their home court and with their very vocal and parochial crowd in support.

Things however did not go to plan as the Lakers kept the crowd quiet with an 18-10 opening quarter and followed up with a strong second quarter to maintain the 8 point buffer, 34-26.

The third quarter saw tensions rise in the Horsham camp as players became distracted by calls and decisions. The Lakers, in contrast, stuck to their tasks and clung to a 7 point lead going into the final 10 minutes. Excitement rose to fever pitch in the closing minutes as Horsham threatened to snatch the game but to the Lakers’ credit, they maintained control and lead to thoroughly deserve a 3 point win, 70-67.

Top scorers for the victors were Simon Berkefeld on 20, quiet achiever Joe Ferguson-Lane with 13 and Dellon Brown on 11.

One of the key factors in this result was the defensive efforts of the Lakers on Horsham’s gun shooters. Cameron Bruce was held to 4 points, Tim Pickert had many, many attempts for 22 while Tim Friend did not trouble the scorer; a vastly different picture to that of the semi-final when 4 players compiled double figures.

This win speaks volumes for the character of the team who had shown ordinary form this season up until their match at home against Horsham in January when things came together as a team and individuals found touch. This turnaround is also due to in part to the approach of Coach Dallas Jeffree, who maintained faith in his players and lifted the intensity at trainings; a case of there being no substitute for hard work. This proved to be a significant factor in the Lakers’ three-peat and two titles from two seasons for Coach Jeffree.

Simon Berkefeld was named Most Valuable Player in the final. The season individual winners for the South West Conference are Liam McInerney of Colac, top points scorer, narrowly from Simon Berkefeld, while the Most Valuable Player Award went to Cameron Bruce of Horsham. 

The Churchill Devils defeated reigning state champions Warragul Warriors 86-74 in the Gippsland Conference and Shepparton Gators chalked up their third successive North East title 84-69 against Albury Cougars.

The CBL state finals will be contested at Bendigo next Saturday night when the three conference winners will meet in a round robin then the first and second teams will play off for the state title. Last year the Lakers defeated Warragul in the round robin but then went down to them in the final. Jeffree and his team will be looking to go one better in 2014.