With significant losses and a major psychological blow following the defeat against Español de Osorno in the Supercup final, Puerto Varas Basket lost 102-91 to Puerto Montt Básquet in their debut in the 2026 Cherry League. It was a thrilling match held last Wednesday at the Municipal Gymnasium of the regional capital, where the lakeside team managed to take the game into overtime thanks to a last-minute three-pointer from Simón Davies; however, in the overtime, the Puerto Montt team was able to take the lead. Despite the defeat, the club's head coach, Damián Gamarra, stated that the morale in the locker room is very good, emphasizing that the absences of Joshua Morris, Nicolás Villagrán, Marcelo Pérez, and Ignacio Cáceres were decisive in facing this match.
Nevertheless, the coach expressed pride and highlighted the "commitment and competitive spirit" of the team that took to the court, noting the performance of Eduardo Aguilar and Álex Sepúlveda (both under-17) along with Isaac Miralles (under-20), who filled in for the absentees and met Gamarra's expectations. On his part, the club's secretary director, Hernán Raimann, confirmed the positive feelings from Wednesday's match despite the loss and emphasized that the result is also due to the fatigue they have experienced over the past week, considering that they played the Supercup all weekend, arrived in Puerto Varas on Monday, and only had Tuesday to prepare for the game against Puerto Montt Básquet. "We played 4 games in about 5 days, which obviously causes significant physical fatigue," concluded the club executive.
The club is preparing for their league debut at home, which will take place next Monday, March 30, at the Fiscal Gymnasium of Puerto Varas at 8:00 PM, where the lakeside team will host Las Ánimas from Valdivia for the second round of the tournament. Regarding this match, Raimann assured that they will maintain the ticket prices from last season ($6,000 per person) and hopes to fill the gym even though the game is on a weekday.