Johnson-Blount, Alex Gynes and Simon O’Keefe were effective in the 87-77 victory over an undermanned Latrobe City Energy at the Arc on Saturday night.

Warrnambool had control for most of the game and held a 17-point buffer at one stage but Latrobe Energy got to within single digits in the dying stages.

Seahawks assistant coach Barry Brooks said it was an important result, labelling the Tim Gainey-led roster “a work in progress”.

“It was a momentum-changing (game). We just lost momentum in defence and if we had have kept our defensive intensity up, we would’ve ran away with it,” he said.

“We’re probably a month or so away from hitting our straps. We’ve had a late start, haven’t played any practice matches, so that really was our first hit-out, so it was a pretty bloody good job really.

“It was fairly oppressive out there. The heat was astounding. For them, all credit to them for staying in the game because they had seven (players).

“It was a game of attrition at the end of the day.”

Warrnambool ran 10 players through the floor including Big V debutants Liam Herbert (10 minutes) and Aidan Carroll (five minutes).

The Seahawks made the most of their extended bench, often switching up their line-up.

They opened with a tall starting five with Gynes, O’Keefe, Johnson-Blount, Gainey and Ollie Bidmade getting them off to a solid start.

“When you’ve got numbers there, you try and rotate them through and take advantage of that,” Brooks said.

“On a couple of occasions we did.

“We got running and got away and that’s when we went ahead and were able to bring a couple of guys in, swing the ball and move it quickly down the court and we caught them out.

“But when we got stuck in the half-court game, that’s when it got a bit dour.”

Gynes and O’Keefe, who has returned to the roster after a stint away, combined for 28 points and 19 boards.

“It is fantastic to have such a big presence in the key,” Brooks said.

“(O’Keefe) is just super strong, he’s got great hands and he just knows where to go.”

Brooks said Carroll “would learn a lot being next to Simon”.

“Aidan was there and battled under the basket and it didn’t allow them to get an offensive rebound,” he said.

“And when (guard) Liam Osborne came on court he gave us a good tempo – we moved the ball fast and we got a few fast breaks.”