The late withdrawal of Simon Conn proved a telling factor in game one of the BigV grand final series on Saturday night, when the Sandringham Sabres were defeated by 18 points by a rampaging Dandenong unit.

At a packed Sandringham Stadium, Conn’s NBL teammate and BigV rival Brent Hobba stole the show, with 21 points, 21 rebounds and one assist for the night.

With six points, nine rebounds in the opening term, Hobba declared game on and the visitors stormed to a 25-18 lead. The Rangers dominated both the rebound and the fee-throw counts, pulling down 17 boards to the Sabres’ eight and converting nine of 12 shots from the charity stripe to the home side’s two.

Hobba again dominated proceedings in the second term, with 15 points and 12 boards to help his side extend the margin to 12 points at the main break, 50-38.

After a fast and furious start the scoring slowed beyond half time, with both teams’ accuracy from the field languishing at around 20 per cent.

But with assistance from former NBL teammate Ash Cannan, Hobba boosted his points count to 17 in the third quarter, with 17 boards to match.

For the Sabres, Adam Quick and George Williams stepped up to fill the void left by Conn, but his shoes proved too great to fill as the home side went into the final term 67-54 in arrears and 16 rebounds short of the Rangers’ tally.

With support from a vocal capacity crowd the home side reined the margin in to single figures in the fourth quarter, but were ultimately powerless to stem the Rangers’ charge to a 93-75 win.

The result sets up what will be a big week of training at the Crazy John’s South Dragons camp ahead of game two this weekend. While the Sabres will be hoping Simon Conn can return to the practice court in time to face the Rangers in a must-win clash on Saturday night, Dandenong will enter the showdown buoyed by an undefeated home-court record in season 2007.

In overseas action, the Australia Post Boomers were defeated by Serbia 86-81 in overtime at the weekend to finish fourth in the Diego Gianatti International event in Italy.

South Australian young gun Brad Newley and Victorian David Andersen each scored 14 points to lead the Boomers, while Perth Wildcat Damien Ryan added 13.

“We played better tonight and that was important after the kicking we got last night,” Boomers head coach Brian Goorjian said.

“Serbia is a very strong team and our starting group had their number.

“We controlled the game for most of the first half but when we went to the bench we sacrificed some fluidity in the system.

“Our bench players are not entirely comfortable right now but that’s why we’re here playing at this tournament. We’re coaching with New Zealand in mind.”

The Boomers are gearing up for the 2007 FIBA Oceania qualifying series against New Zealand, set to tip off at Vodafone Arena on Monday, August 20.

Australia’s rock solid defence troubled Serbia in the opening stages and by quarter time the Boomers had established a 10-point advantage, 22-12.

With Andersen and Newley taking charge for the Boomers, the lead grew to 14 points in the second quarter before Serbia ground down the Australian bench players to narrow the gap to just three at half time, 44-41.

Goorjian continued to test a number of different combinations in the third period and the Boomers responded by halting the Serbian surge to draw the quarter and maintain their three-point lead with one quarter remaining, 61-58.

With five seconds to play in regulation time the score was tied at 73-all and Australia had a good look at a shot that hit every side of the rim but rattled out to push the game to overtime.

Serbia began the extra period with a three-pointer, followed by a defensive stop and a successful field goal, forcing Australia to play catch-up from then on. The Boomers fought valiantly to post eight points in overtime, but went down in the end by five points.

Despite this being the Boomers’ third loss on the trot, head coach Brian Goorjian was pleased with the way his team bounced back from yesterday’s 32-point loss to Italy in the semi-final round.

“Even though we lost, the team is moving forward,” he said.