Lakes Entrance hosted the Moe Meteors in round seven of the Country Basketball League at the Lakes Entrance Youth and Recreation Centre, unable to build on their solitary victory for the season.
With injuries rife in the Pelicans’ squad, Xavier Martin, Jamie Welsh and Leigh Martin were all drafted in by head coach Anthony Wright.
They added plenty of enthusiasm to the squad, who ultimately were no match for the fourth-ranked Meteors at this stage of their development, deep in a long season curtailed by injury.
Moe was quickly out of the blocks, establishing a 13-point advantage by quarter time, with Austin Shelley (30 points), Ben Van Dyk (20) and Rohan Demczul (18) all prominent from the opening tip off.
Shelley always seems to save his best for the Pelicans and led the game in three pointers (four) as well as points.
Buoyed by their efforts in the opener, the Meteors upped the tempo in the second stanza, Stephen O’Brien (10) and Joshua Keegan (11) joining in the party.
Kobe Edwards (17) was trying to ignite the home side, but a sensational 35-10 quarter saw the lead stretch to 38 points at half time, giving Wright and his team plenty to think about.
The second half was much more subdued, with the Pelicans playing their best ball defensively and offensively in the third term, with Xavier Martin (9), James Russell (8) and Anthony Wright (6) all creating scoreboard pressure, however the lead ballooned to 47 points at the final break.
Moe cruised to a convincingly 114-47 victory but there were some encouraging signs for the Pelicans, who are hopeful that if they can get some established players back and blend in the recent additions, they may be able to win another game in the final rounds.
Lakes currently sits on the bottom of the table with 10 points, trailing 11th-ranked Sale on percentage.
The Pelicans will hit the road this weekend, tackling the Pakenham Warriors at the Cardinia Life and Aquatic Centre on Sunday at 2pm.
