PORTLAND’S men’s basketballers earned themselves an impressive victory to begin their 2023-24 Country Basketball League campaign, defeating Millicent 72-54 at Portland Basketball Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Defence was the key for the Coasters as they emphasised limiting the Magic’s star players Jackson Bowden and Jack Haggett.

And while it was certainly a team effort to quell their influence, it was Flynn Chapman who played the largest role at that end of the court, as despite giving up a few centimetres height-wise to Haggett, he was able to play a disruptive role and consistently force some difficult jump shots or get the ball out of his hands.

Toby Jennings and captain Davey Denboer were also effective on the defensive perimeter, as while the former eventually fouled out they were able to blow up plenty of Millicent’s action offensively and force them to score in one-on-one situations.

Offensively for the Coasters, they ran largely through centrepiece Nathan Hardingham, who finished up with 25 points and was effective on both the low and high block, able to consistently get to his spots and also draw fouls to put them in the bonus.

Charlie Piergrosse was also impressive on debut, hitting the scoreboard with a couple of triples to help boost the lead.

Brad Clark was also effective as a big in tandem with Hardingham, earning the team some second-chance points with offensive rebounds and finishing with eight of his own.

Coasters coach Hayden Annett said their success on the day had come down to “really impressive effort defensively.”

“There’s a lot of talent on that (Millicent) team, so to come away holding them to 54 points I think is a tremendous effort,” Annett said.

“There’s a few things we need to tidy up on at the other end, but defence wins games.

“I think Flynn is our x-factor, he can guard multiple positions but with his athleticism he can put heat on the ring as well.

“He showed both sides of his game (on Sunday), his defensive efforts on Haggett were incredible… he did make some tough shots, but Flynn made sure they were tough shots which is all we can ask for.”

Annett said the offense was “a little bit clunky” but said they would get more effective with time on the court.

“It’s just playing in a better flow… this is a different side to the one we’ve had in the last few years, and it can be easy to get bogged down at times.

“It’s somewhere to start from and I’m excited to see where it goes.”

Annett said he felt the three months or so lead-in that the group had as preseason had done wonders for their “connection” as a group.

“I think that only comes with guys being together more and more at training… there’s still room for improvement but good teams are connected teams,” he said.