Leagues SEABL Main sponsor CASTEC Rural Supplies Location Mount Gambier, Australia Championships 3 (2003, 2014, 2015) | Team colors White, Black, Green President Neil Boase Founded 1988 | |
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History Mount Gambier Pioneers
1988–present Arena Bern Bruning Stadium
(capacity: 920) League South East Australian Basketball League | ||
The Mount Gambier Pioneers are a men's basketball team from Mount Gambier, South Australia that plays in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL). Established in 1988, the team missed the playoffs in nine out of their first 11 seasons before going on a successful six-year playoff run between 1999 and 2004. In 2003, the Pioneers won the South Conference title and the ABA National Final, a team led by coach Sonya Knight and forward Kurt Russell, the 2003 Under 23 South Conference Player of the Year and ABA National Final Game MVP.
Between 2005 and 2012, the Pioneers failed to reach the playoffs. That trend ceased in 2013 with the team making it through to the SEABL Grand Final where they lost to the Dandenong Rangers. In 2014, the Pioneers won their first championship since 2003 with an 85–71 Grand Final win over the Nunawading Spectres, a win coach Richard Hill called 'redemption' after their 2013 championship loss to the Rangers. They went back-to-back in 2015 with an 87–76 Grand Final win over the Albury Wodonga Bandits. American import Damian Johnson led the Pioneers in 2014 and 2015, earning SEABL Defensive Player of the Year honours in 2015. The Pioneers returned to the Grand Final in 2016, where they were defeated 79–61 by the Bendigo Braves.