The loss of star imports Cortez Groves and Nick Horvath before tip-off did nothing to stop the home side, who showed off the depth of their new squad in exercising the full remainder of the roster.

Jacob Holmes opened the scoring for the home side and it was goal for goal in the early minutes of the term. But a trademark three-pointer to Shane Heal midway through the quarter proved an ominous sign for the Blaze, Heal going on to post a game-high 29 points for the night.

Accuracy from the field troubled the home team early on, with Matt Burston (six points) and Heal (five points) contributing the majority of the Crazy John’s South Dragons’ tally.

Burston, Joe Ingles and Jacob Holmes shared the load under the rim, but with few inroads being made on the scoreboard, the Blaze shot out to a seven-point lead by midway through the term.

Veteran Matt Shanahan teamed with Burston to rein the margin back to five towards the end of the term, but the deficit again blew out to eight by the first break with the home side down 26-18 at the change.

Points proved hard to come by in the opening minutes of the second term, but a three-pointer to Heal ultimately kick-started the home team into action. With Burston, then Ingles, sent to the stripe the margin was back to three points and the Crazy John’s South Dragons had all the momentum on side.

Burston continued to work hard in defence with eight boards to his name at halftime, and found good support under the rim from Holmes with seven rebounds of his own.

The Blaze’s accuracy dwindled as the home side stepped up the pressure and hit the lead courtesy of a quick two points to Luke Martin. Heal followed suit to push the scoreline out to 38-33, their greatest lead of the night and a buffer they held to the major break.

On the back of a 22-9 second term, Heal came out firing in the third with three points to get the team under way. NBL rookie Shannon Seebohm was brought into the action and wasted no time posting his first two points for the red and black.

Gold Coast’s Jason Crowe was sent to the stripe towards the middle of the quarter and converted two from two, but the momentum was all with the Dragons, holding a 59-55 lead at the final change.

A technical foul to the Gold Coast bench saw Heal at the charity mark to start the final quarter, netting one of two before landing a three only seconds later. Shanahan and Heal continued the scoring before Holmes and Ingles added some points – and excitement – of their own in a blistering show of skill.

Nathan Herbert hit the court late in the term and was quick to score from beyond the arc. Big man Simon Conn, still recovering from a calf strain, was brought on with three minutes to play and made a mark on the stats sheet adding two points.

A late three to Luke Martin saw the margin out to 86-68, and shored up the Crazy John’s South Dragons’ first win ahead of season 2007/08.

The team will next travel west to take on the Perth Wildcats in a three-game series before returning to Melbourne to face the New Zealand Breakers on Wednesday, September 5 at Geelong Arena.

Crazy John’s South Dragons 86 (Heal 29, Holmes 11, Burston 10)
Gold Coast Blaze 68 (Melmeth 18, Aucoin 15, Hawkins 12)
@ Knox Stadium