NBL1 South Mens Round 6 Recap

Daniel Trist came up huge in a Frankston Blues win on Saturday night in NBL1 South action while Mangok Mathiang had a significant impact for the Casey Cavaliers and Shea Ili shone in a victory for the Sandringham Sabres.

It was a massive night in the NBL1 South competition with wins for the Frankston Blues, Kilsyth Cobras, Casey Cavaliers, Sandringham Sabres, Ballarat Miners, Diamond Valley Eagles, Bendigo Braves and Mount Gambier Pioneers.

Round 6 action in the NBL1 South began on Friday night with a thriller that saw the Hobart Chargers overcome the Bendigo Braves 77-73 on their home court.

Then on Saturday night, the Frankston Blues handed the Geelong Supercats successive losses by winning 88-82 at The Arena. Daniel Trist delivered 31 points for Frankston while Jack White had 27 points and 14 rebounds for Geelong.

It was a terrific contest at Casey Stadium with the Casey Cavaliers holding out the Knox Raiders 80-76.

Davo Hickey produced 22 points in the win for the Cavs and Jordan Bell 21 points and 14 rebounds while Mangok Mathiang played 26 minutes for 13 points and 12 rebounds in his first appearance. Reuben Te Rangi put up 18 points for the Raiders.

The Kilsyth Cobras scored the 91-85 road victory against the Nunawading Spectres with Adrian Tomada putting up 31 points while Deng Deng had 24 points and 13 rebounds for the winners. Dain Swetalla top-scored for the Spectres with 28 points and 10 rebounds.

The Bendigo Braves bounced back from their loss on Friday to the Chargers to beat the North West Tasmania Thunder 69-60 on Saturday.

Kuany Kuany delivered 22 points for Bendigo with Sidy Djitte adding 12 points and 15 rebounds. Tasmania JackJumpers guard Sean Macdonald had 19 points for the Thunder.

The Sandringham Sabres defeated the Dandenong Rangers 86-73 with Shea Ili starring with 27 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and five steals while Tohi Smith-Milner added 23 points and 13 boards. Jacob Davidson had 19 points for the Rangers.

It was another thriller at Keilor Stadium with the Ballarat Miners coming from behind to beat the Keilor Thunder 83-80. Preston Bungei top-scored for the Miners with 21 points while Jalon Miller had 17 points and 10 boards. Jacob Lapkin top-scored for Keilor with 17 points.

The Diamond Valley Eagles also won on the road 81-70 against the Eltham Wildcats with Ngor Manyang finishing with 21 points for Diamond Valley. Sam Whelan top-scored for Eltham with 15 points and four assists.

Last up on Saturday night was a big win at home for the Mount Gambier Pioneers against the Melbourne Tigers, 88-56. Nick Marshall put up 17 points for the Pioneers with Michael Wearne top-scoring for the Tigers with 18 points.

Round 6 of the NBL1 South Men’s season then wraps up on Sunday afternoon with the Knox Raiders playing the Sandringham Sabres, the Waverley Falcons taking on the Keilor Thunder, and the Diamond Valley Eagles facing the Ringwood Hawks.

NBL1 SOUTH – 2022 MEN’S SEASON
ROUND 6 – SATURDAY NIGHT

GEELONG SUPERCATS 82 lost to FRANKSTON BLUES 88

The Frankston Blues did well to head to Geelong and hand the Supercats a second loss of the season with the six-point win on Saturday night.

Geelong lost its first game of the season two weeks ago at home to the Knox Raiders before bouncing back with a one-point thriller away to Mount Gambier last week, but Frankston came to The Arena on a mission on Saturday night.

Frankston was able to lead by as much as seven points during the first quarter before leading 22-18 at quarter-time. They then went on a 7-0 run during the second term to extend their advantage to as much as 15 points before still leading 46-37 by half-time.

The Blues extended their advantage out to 15 points by three quarter-time and while the Supercats did outscore them in the fourth quarter, Frankston still cruised to the 88-82 victory away from home.

Daniel Trist put in a tremendous showing for the Blues with 31 points and six rebounds on the back of shooting 12/20 from the field, 2/3 from beyond the arc and 5/5 at the foul line.

Alister MacDonald added 18 points and four rebounds for Frankston, Lucas Barker 17 points and six assists, Igor Hadziomerovic nine points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists, and Dillon Stith eight points and nine rebounds.

Jack White did what he could to keep Geelong in the contest with 27 points and 14 rebounds while Isaac Turner added 23 points and seven assists, and Gabe Hadley 17 points, six boards, three assists and two steals.

NUNAWADING SPECTRES 85 lost to KILSYTH COBRAS 91

The Kilsyth Cobras finished strong to win on the road over the Nunawading Spectres by six points on Saturday night.

The Spectres and Cobras did battle at Nunawading Basketball Centre with Kilsyth starting well with Deng Deng in the line-up to end up leading 26-22 at quarter-time.

The Cobras were able to extend their lead out to as much as nine points during the second quarter but the Spectres hit back and by half-time had cut the Kilsyth advantage to 47-46.

Again the Cobras were able to pull away during the third quarter and then early in the fourth term they led by a game high 13 points, and then went on to win 91-85.

The win improves Kilsyth to a 6-3 record on the season following six rounds while Nunawading is now 5-3.

Not much separated the two teams across the board aside from Kilsyth getting to the foul line 24 times opposed to just 10 from Nunawading.

Deng Deng lined up for Kilsyth coming off the best NBL season of his career with the Brisbane Bullets and he produced 24 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots.

Adrian Tomada was also impressive for the Cobras with 31 points, five rebounds and five assists while knocking down 5/7 from three-point territory.

Hamish MacDonald contributed 15 points and 10 rebounds for Kilsyth and Ben Ursich 12 points and eight boards.

Dain Swetalla top-scored for the Spectres with 28 points and 10 rebounds with Remo Simankevicius contributing 18 points, Jack Gandolfo 12 points and eight assists, Callum Barker 10 points and 12 rebounds, and Costas Hronopoulos 10 points, four boards and four assists.

CASEY CAVALIERS 80 defeated KNOX RAIDERS 76

The Casey Cavaliers hit back from a heartbreaking overtime loss last week to win a tremendous battle with the Knox Raiders at home on Saturday night in Round 6.

The Cavs lost in overtime last Saturday night to the Frankston Blues but they were back at Casey Stadium on Saturday to host a loaded and NBL experienced Raiders team.

Knox started strongly to lead by seven points early on but Casey was able to steady to go on their own run of scoring eight straight points to lead 22-21 by quarter-time.

The Cavaliers then took over further in the second quarter. They would end up going on a 15-0 run and then there was a bit of controversy about a three-point bucket on half-time, but it helped Casey to the 43-32 edge at the main break.

Knox has too much talent and experience not to mount a comeback and they scored 12 points in-a-row themselves in the third quarter to be back within eight by three quarter-time.

Another 8-0 run in the fourth term had the Raiders in front and with all the momentum, but Casey was able to respond impressively to end up winning 80-76.

Davo Hickey was impressive once more for the Cavaliers to finish the evening with 22 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Jordan Bell added 21 points and 14 rebounds, Matt Donlan eight points and new recruit Mangok Mathiang 13 points and 12 rebounds. The former NBA big man who played four games for the Charlotte Hornets after his time at the University of Louisville clocked 26 minutes.

Alex Robinson was a master of the three ball for Knox hitting 5/8 from beyond the arc for 17 points to go with seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Reuben Te Rangi added 18 points and six rebounds, Mason Peatling 16 points and 10 boards, Adam Gibson eight points, three boards and three assists, and Deng Acouth seven points and five rebounds.

DANDENONG RANGERS 73 lost to SANDRINGHAM SABRES 86

The Sandringham Sabres delivered a terrific fourth quarter to take out the 13-point road win over the Dandenong Rangers on Saturday night.

The Rangers were back home at Dandenong Basketball Stadium but it was the visiting Sabres who started the better to lead 24-16 by the end of the opening quarter.

Sandringham added another 19 points to 12 in the second period and that saw the visitors lead 43-28 by the half-time interval.

Dandenong was able to hit back in the third quarter with 23 points to 10 to make a real game of it, but Sandringham responded with 33 points to 22 in the fourth quarter to come away victorious 86-73.

On the back of a standout NBL season with Melbourne United, Shea Ili showed his quality once again for Sandringham with the #NBL22 Best Sixth Man who also narrowly missed the Best Defensive Player award put up 27 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and five steals on 9/16 shooting.

Another Sabres player fresh off an NBL season, Tohi Smith-Milner, also had 23 points and 13 rebounds with David Okwera adding 13 points and six boards, and Dion Prewster 11 points and three assists.

Jacob Davison ended up top-scoring for Dandenong with 19 points and four rebounds with Declan Soukup adding 14 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and five steals, and Lawson Eales 13 points and five boards.

KEILOR THUNDER 80 lot to BALLARAT MINERS 83

The Ballarat Miners won a thriller by three points over Keilor Thunder at Keilor Stadium on Saturday night.

The Thunder started well on their home court with 25 points to 22 in the opening quarter and then they extended their advantage to 47-42 by the half-time break.

Keilor further extended their lead in the third quarter with another 21 points to 19, but Ballarat fired back with 22 points to 12 in the fourth stanza and that saw them end up recording the 83-80 victory.

The result sees Ballarat improve to a 6-3 record as a result of the win while the losses sees Keilor slip to 1-7 on the season with them still to have a game to come on Sunday.

Preston Bungei ended up top-scoring for Ballarat with 21 points and six rebounds while Jalon Miller contributed 17 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Zack Dunmore added 19 points, Koen Sapwell 14 points and five rebounds, and last year’s NBL1 West MVP Nic Pozoglou 12 points and six boards.

Kian Dennis led the charge for Keilor with 18 points and six assists while Jacob Lampkin added 17 points and nine boards, Broden Collins 10 points, and Tyler Kidd 10 points and three assists.

ELTHAM WILDCATS 70 lost to DIAMOND VALLEY EAGLES 81

The Diamond Valley Eagles held firm to beat the Eltham Wildcats by 11 points on Saturday night at Eltham High School.

Diamond Valley led 25-23 at the end of the opening quarter before the Eagles were able to hold Eltham to eight points in the second term while scoring 16 themselves to head into half-time leading 41-31.

The Eagles were able to extend their advantage further with 22 points to 19 and then despite the Wildcats outscoring them in the fourth term, Diamond Valley still managed to prevail 81-70.

The win saw Diamond Valley improve to a 3-4 record on the season with a game still to come on Sunday while Eltham slipped to 0-7 as they are still chasing that elusive first win of 2022.

Diamond Valley collected 12 extra rebounds than Eltham while they shot tremendously going 50.8 per cent as a team from the floor while the Wildcats went just 36.5 per cent.

Former Warwick Senators championship winner out west Ngor Manyang is settling in nicely at Diamond Valley and he delivered 21 points on 9/16 shooting from the floor.

Sydney King championship winner DJ Vasiljevic had 15 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists for the Eagles with Dane Pineau contributing 18 points and 13 rebounds, and Matt Reynolds eight points and two assists.

Sam Whelan finished up with 15 points and four assists for Eltham while Owen Foxwell contributed 12 points and three rebounds, and Sam Short 12 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.

NORTH WEST TASMANIA THUNDER 60 lost to BENDIGO BRAVES 69

The Bendigo Braves were able to bounce back from a narrow Friday night loss to split their Tasmanian double-header road trip with a Saturday night win over the North West Tasmania Thunder.

The Braves went down to the Hobart Chargers in a terrific contest on Friday night and then backed up against the Thunder at Ulverstone Sports and Leisure Centre on Saturday.

It was a low scoring contest most of the way and especially in the opening half with Bendigo leading 14-8 at quarter-time.

The Braves added another 14 points to 11 in the second quarter and that saw the visitors to go into half-time leading 28-19.

North West fired up in the third quarter and after just scoring 19 points in the entire first half, they put up 27 points in the third stanza to turn the game on its head and lead 46-41 by three quarter-time.

However, Bendigo regrouped and produced a strong fourth quarter made up of 28 points to 14 to come away with the 69-60 victory away from home.

The Braves were aggressive taking the ball inside and were reward with 26 free-throw attempts for the night opposed to just the 13 for the Thunder.

Kuany Kuany produced a standout performance for Bendigo with 22 points, four rebounds and three assists with Sidy Djitte adding 12 points and 15 boards.

Malcolm Bernard also had 13 points and five assists, and Mitch Clarke 15 points, three rebounds and three steals.

Sean MacDonald top-scored for North West with 19 points, three rebounds, three assists and three steals with Isaac Atuer adding 14 points, and Sejr Deans nine points, eight rebounds and four assists.

MOUNT GAMBIER PIONEERS 88 defeated MELBOURNE TIGERS 56

The Mount Gambier Pioneers confirmed themselves on top of the NBL1 South Men’s standings with a 32-point win over the Melbourne Tigers at home on Saturday night.

The Pioneers were back home at The Ice House to host Andrew Gaze’s Tigers outfit and Mt Gambier were up 16-11 by the end of the first quarter.

Mount Gambier turned up the defensive heat in the second quarter holding Melbourne to just eight points. They then piled on 25 points themselves to be leading 41-19 at half-time.

It was more of the same in the third quarter with 22 points to 12 for Mount Gambier before they cruised to the 88-56 victory to improve to 7-1 on the season. The Tigers are now 2-6 following the sixth round of the 2022 season.

Both teams collected 47 rebounds apiece, Melbourne took one more field goal and only had 12 turnovers to 10, but the difference in the contest came with shooting the ball.

Mount Gambier went at 45.1 per cent from the floor and 14/42 at 33.3 per cent from downtown opposed to 27.8 per cent from the field for Melbourne who also went 9/37 at 24.3 per cent from three-point land.

Nick Marshall top-scored for Mount Gambier with 17 points and six rebounds while Tom Kubank contributed 16 points and nine boards, and Michael Harris 16 points, four boards, three assists and three blocked shots.

Kane de Wit also had 11 points and seven rebounds, Clevon Brown 10 points, 10 boards and five assists, and Jordan Rawls 10 points and seven rebounds.

Michael Wearne led the charge for the Tigers with 18 points and five rebounds with Taj Chehhal adding nine points and five boards, Dogukan Elyazar eight points and seven rebounds, and Mason Gaze eight points and eight boards.

In other games across the weekend;

HOBART CHARGERS 77 defeated BENDIGO BRAVES 73

The lone Friday night clash in the NBL1 South competition on Friday night for Round 6 turned out to be a tremendous contest between the Hobart Chargers and Bendigo Braves.

With two all-time NBL greats coaching their respective teams with Anthony Stewart at the helm of his local Chargers and Stephen Black in his first season at the Braves having made the move across the Nullarbor, the stage was set at Kingborough Sports Centre.

It was a seesaw contest all evening as well with no more than eight points ever separating the two teams.

Hobart did manage to open up an eight-point advantage during the first quarter after scoring six straight points to head into quarter-time on top 25-20.

However, the Braves were able to turn things back around in the second quarter away from home and went on to lead by four points at one stage, and then scores were all square at 39-39 by half-time.

Bendigo was again able to build some momentum in the third quarter and eight consecutive points helped them to a three-point lead heading into the fourth term.

However, with the game up for grabs, the Chargers were able to dig deep and they outscored the Braves 20 points to 13 in the fourth quarter to end up prevailing 77-73.

The result sees the Chargers improve to a 4-3 record on the season while the Braves are now 1-6.

Hobart ended up dominating the glass with 47 rebounds to 30 including 17 offensive boards to just eight from the Braves.

Ole Angerstein was the man largely responsible for that and he stamped his authority with his size and power inside. He threw down some powerful dunks on the way to 20 points and 14 rebounds on 7/8 shooting to go with 6/9 at the foul line.

Harry Froling had a slow start but ahead of the announcement of his return to the Brisbane Bullets for #NBL23, he finished with 19 points and nine rebounds for Hobart.

AJ Harris added 15 points, nine assists and six rebounds, Jack Stanwix 13 points and four boards, and Jaylen Howard six points.

Kuany Kuany finished the evening with 20 points and four rebounds for Bendigo with Malcolm Bernard contributing 17 points, six rebounds and three assists, Luke Rosendale 11 points, and Mitch Clarke 11 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Knox Raiders (79) def by Sandringham Sabres (80)

It doesn’t get any closer than this, with the Knox Raiders falling short by a single point, thanks to the late game defensive heroics of David Okwera.

The Raiders didn’t lack for scoring, with five separate players in double digits – Alex Robinson leading with 20.

However, the duo of Tohiraukura Smith-Milner and Tom Koppens with 16 points apiece were able to lead the Sabres to victory.

KNOX 79 (Robinson 20, Peatling 13, Acouth 12)

SANDRINGHAM 80 (Smith-Milner and Koppens 16, Barlow 12)

Keilor Thunder (74) def by Waverley Falcons (77)

In another close contest, the Falcons were able to survive a close encounter against the Thunder, with some huge play on both sides.

Four of the Keilor starters hit double-digits, led by Tyler Kidd with 24 points.

However, the efforts of Dexter Kernich-Drew – 28 points – and Tristan Forsyth – 21 points and 18 rebounds – were enough to secure the win for Waverley.

KEILOR 74 (Kidd 24, Dennis and Riak 11)

WAVERLEY 77 (Kernich-Drew 28, Forsyth 21, Lewis 11)

Ringwood Hawks (70) def by Diamond Valley Eagles (92)

After a close first half, the Eagles blew this game wide open in the second, keeping Ringwood to only 29 points.

Dejan Vasiljevic continued his hot form, with 31 points on 52.2% from the field including 5-11 from three.

Tim Guers led the Hawks in scoring with 22, but with only one other player joining him in double digits – Kyle Daggett with 16 – they were unable to keep up with Diamond Valley.

RINGWOOD 70 (Guers 22, Daggett 16, Latham 9)

DIAMOND VALLEY 92 (Vasiljevic 31, Manyang 12, Pineau 10)