DUBBO'S Waratah League season might be winding down but it didn't stop the side from pushing Lithgow in their clash at the Wool Shed on Saturday night.
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The Rams went into the match without coach Jay Forrester as well as players Tye Forrester and Mark Willis, but they gave the ladder-leading Lazers a run before going down 87-64.
The early stages of the match were tight, with Dubbo playing their usual physical game while the Lazers height was enabling them to create opportunities in offence.
Missed free throws hurt the Rams, who went into the first break trailing 23-13.
The home side was also able to match it with their rivals in the second term, however Lithgow's ability to hit mid-to-long-range jump shots help them extend their lead to 41-26 at half-time.
The third term was where the visitors asserted their dominance, piling on 26 points and conceding just 12 before Dubbo played their best basketball of the match in the final term.
Youngster Jordan Woolmer impressed in the final term, hitting the scoreboard with regularity while Matt Buckley, Damien Reid and Dan Medway also stood out as the Rams reduced the margin to 20 in the early stages.
In the end winning the final quarter 26-20 wasn't enough for Dubbo as they eventually went down by 23.
Rams fill-in coach Grant Cole said he was impressed with the effort of the side in his first look since giving up coaching duties to concentrate on a busy junior season.
"It was tough to come in and do the job, because I didn't really know what they had been working on," Cole said. "I said to the boys to try and keep things simple and they did that in the first couple of quarters but the third was a fair bit off the game plan.
"To their credit they regrouped and looked pretty good in that last term, and Lithgow is a good side so they should take some confidence from that.
"The one thing I know about this group from my experience with them is that they just give 100 per cent all the time and that happened again so I couldn't ask for any more."
The Rams will have their final home game of the season against Canberra at the Wool Shed this Saturday night.
o LITHGOW LAZERS 87 (Michael Cox 20, Matt Hughes 14, Adam Marjoram 11, John Penton 11, Levi Roberts 9, Ben Newham 8, Kieran Osborne 8, Kurt Northey 6) def DUBBO RAMS 64 (Jordan Woolmer 16, Matt Buckley 12, Dan Medway 8, Brian Amos 8, Chris Spinner 7, Damien Reid 6, Bart Sykes 3, Aaron Hutchins 2, Shane Dallinger 2)
