Chargers fall just short ... again

IT’S deja vu for the Hobart Chargers who have again been knocked out in the SEABL preliminary final after going down to Dandenong 105-98.

Last night at the DEC the Chargers were looking for redemption after falling short of a grand final appearance last season, but it wasn’t to be with Dandenong ending the Chargers’ season.

Hobart was on from the tip-off and Mathiang Muo got the home team on the scoreboard first with a layup.

The next three minutes were dominated by the Chargers’ Chris Whitehead, who scored nine points before the first time-out in the eighth minute of the first quarter.

Dandenong settled into the game and eventually clawed its way to the lead.

A missed free throw from Tom Garlepp just before quarter time allowed Dandenong to go into the first break one point up.

The Chargers couldn’t steal any momentum off Dandenong and trailed for most of the game.

With six minutes to go Dandenong started to run the clock down, but when Garlepp made two free throws Hobart pulled within four points with 1½ minutes left.

It looked like the Chargers might pull off a great fightback, but it wasn’t to be.

It was a shattering loss for Chargers coach Anthony Stewart, who thought his team could have attacked Dandenong earlier than they did.

“I think we left our run a little bit too late,” Stewart said.

“We have been consistent all year but in finals time we just haven’t got it done.”

“Some guys stepped up and some didn’t,” he said.

With the season over Stewart is moving on quickly to what his team needs to do to go one further next season.

“We will learn from it [the final],” Stewart said.

“There are a lot of young kids in this team so we are looking good for the future.”

Muo continued his impressive season, making four three-pointers on his way to an 18-point game but was quiet in the second half and Whitehead was the Chargers most damaging player with 30 points.

Stewart hopes he can keep his top players and believes he can add some more talent to the squad.

“It [the DEC] is the best venue in the league and the best crowd in the league so I wouldn’t see any reason why we can’t recruit great players next year.”