Sport
11 November, 2025
Blazers fall short despite 22-point comeback
A fiery late comeback wasn’t enough for the Maryborough Men’s Blazers to overcome the Bendigo Braves, who kickstarted their season with a vital 88-78 victory.
After a 14-2 second-quarter run and some sharp shooting gave the Braves a 22-point advantage midway through the third quarter, the Blazers managed to tie the game late in the fourth quarter before the Braves scored 11 of the game’s last 12 points to hold on to the win.
Maryborough made numerous changes following their round five defeat to the Macedon Ranges Rockies, with Tyler Madigan and Sam Byron coming in for Ollie McCarthy, James Madden and Caleb Stuttard.
With some early buckets from captain Kynan Carter and 2025 leading scorer Bailey Jacobs, the Blazers maintained touching distance of the fast-starting Braves, finding their offensive groove midway through the period.
After scoring his team’s first 10 points in their defeat to the Rockies, Jacobs once again found his range quickly, reaching double digits by quarter time as Maryborough entered the first break trailing by one.
Bendigo sought to undo Mary-borough’s hard work in the first quarter with a potentially back-breaking run that ballooned the margin to 10 points.
Compounding the Blazers’ issues was the Braves routinely drawing fouls on their opponents, with the in-form Carter and Brady Neill quickly finding themselves in foul trouble alongside Ky Swards, who picked up two in the first term.
Points from Neill and Darcy Bond limited the damage slightly, but Maryborough were teetering at half-time, trailing 48-35.
Smelling blood in the water, Bendigo tried to land the knockout blow at the start of the second half, making three early three-pointers to widen the margin past 20 points.
Outside of a quick flourish from Carter at the start of the quarter and six points from Neill, all hope looked to be lost for the Blazers as they entered three-quarter time down by 16 points.
Entering the fourth period with their backs against the wall and nothing to lose, the Blazers suddenly found the ignition they desperately needed to begin cutting away at the deficit.
After early scores from Jacobs and Neill forced a quick Braves timeout, a pair of threes from Bond and Jacobs brought the margin down to single figures with the help of Maryborough’s outstanding efforts on defence.
Carter reduced the deficit to four with several makes before Bond, who excelled during crunch time against the Rockies, tied the game with a two-pointer in the midst of the fourth.
Despite an outstanding effort from Maryborough to scratch their way back into the contest, the Braves found a way to extinguish the white-hot Blazers just before they became engulfed.
Bendigo finished the game with a 11-1 run to collect their first win of the season in front of their home crowd by 10 points, while Maryborough now has a record of 0-7.
For the fifth time this season, Jacobs surpassed 20 points to lead Maryborough in scoring with a season-high 25 points.
Neill has quickly reinserted himself as a valuable option in the Blazers’ offence with 19 points last weekend, while Carter’s season development remains a bright spot, ending with 13 points.
The Blazers have a chance to enact some quick revenge on the Braves, as their round four encounter with Bendigo has been rescheduled for this Friday.
Meanwhile, the Lady Blazers match with the Braves has been moved to Thursday, November 20, giving them a triple header to end their regular season.