The Lakers Senior Men’s team stamped their name on the Country Basketball League Bev Bauer Shield in a most emphatic manner in Colac on Saturday. This 2018/19 win sees the Lakers make it 6 CBL championship titles in 8 years.

In what can only be described as a superb team performance of high standard basketball, the Lakers totally dominated the final after a rather measured first quarter.

Bacchus Marsh, despite a full complement of players and a large and vocal contingent of supporters, had no answer to the Lakers’ skills, and effective team work. All eight players worked as a well-oiled unit led by Coach Kane deWit, who was in brilliant touch from beyond the arc.  

The Lakers led 32-15 at the first break, but then totally took control in the second quarter with a 22-7 result during which time Kane deWit coached from the bench after copping his third foul in the closing seconds of the first quarter.

The Lakers extended their lead to a massive 43 points, 85-42, by three quarter time and then cruised home for a final score-line of 116-62. Six of the eight players recorded double figure totals, led by Kane deWit with a huge total of 37, which included 10 three pointers, Simon Berkefeld on 17, Sam Stafford on 16, Lachlan Hunter on 15, Braiden Ousey on 13 and Kurt Rodis on 11. Jason Nysten and Matt Berkefeld were effective contributors as well to complete the exceptional team display.      

There were many features in the game from the Lakers’ perspective. These included the overall skills of the Lakers, their unbending focus on team strategies and sustained defensive efforts to shut down the opposition leaders such as Billy Feben, announced as joint Season MVP during presentations.

The Lakers players were prominent in the individual awards presented at the end of the game. Kane deWit was named MVP of the final, and along with Matt Berkefeld, was named in the League All Star Five and runner-up in the season MVP Award. Lachie Hunter was presented with the Best Defensive player of the year trophy. 

The 2019 Grand Final Night finished as a gala night for SA Country after Millicent Magic defeated Geelong 74-62 earlier in the night. Magic players featured strongly in the individual awards. Ash Berman was named MVP for the final, Olivia Fuller and Emily Winter were in the All Star Five and Olivia Fuller was presented with the prestigious MVP for the season, her second consecutive Award win.