The Sutherland Sharks weren’t going to be denied with Marquel Beasley, Lochlan Hutchison, Adrian Cabrera and Jordan Mitchell all having their standout moments in the eventual 83-80 victory over the Maitland Mustangs to win the NBL1 East championship.
The Mustangs had made it to a second straight NBL1 East Grand Final but their hearts were again broken by the Sharks who scored the 83-80 win at Sydney Uni Sports and Aquatics Centre.
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Sharks hand Mustangs second straight Grand Final loss
The Maitland Mustangs were attempting to avoid back-to-back NBL1 East Grand Final defeats but the Sutherland Sharks weren’t playing along and triumphed 83-80 at Sydney Uni Sports and Aquatics Centre.
On the back of losing last year's Grand Final in a heartstopper to the Canberra Gunners, Maitland backed up with a seventh place finish at the end of the 2023 regular season in the NBL1 East.
However, the Mustangs went on to beat the Inner West Bulls and then in a Grand Final rematch earned a measure of revenge on Canberra in the semi finals to get back to another decider.
The steal ?? the pass ?? the ?????? ?
— NBL1 (@NBL1) August 12, 2023
Let. Maitland. Cook. ??
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Sutherland ended up in fifth place before then beating the Norths Bears and the Centre of Excellence on the way to the Grand Final setting up a decider where it was the fifth against seventh ranked teams at the end of the regular season.
It was a tight contest throughout most of the evening with the Mustangs up four by quarter-time before scores were all square at the half.
However, the Sharks pulled away in the third quarter and then held out the Mustangs to score the championship triumph and book in a place at next week's National Finals in Perth.
Lochlan Hutchison ended up being named Grand Final MVP in Sutherland's triumph finishing with 17 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
Marquel Beasley added 16 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots for the Sharks, Adrian Cabrera 16 points, six boards and three steals, and Jordan Mitchell 15 points and three rebounds.
Captain Geoff Gerlach battled hard too for six points, 10 rebounds and two assists while Deng Gak contributed eight points and four boards.
It was a second consecutive heartbreaking Grand Final loss for Maitland with James Hunter top-scoring with 20 points and six rebounds.
MVP Will Cranston-Lown added 19 points, eight assists, three rebounds and two steals for the Mustangs, Billy Parsons 15 points and six boards, Will Mortimore eight points and four rebounds, and Matthew Gray five points, 11 boards and two blocked shots.
Marquel Beasley opened the scoring in the Grand Final with an early offensive rebound and putback for the Sharks but up the other end, the Mustangs scored on back-to-back dunks to James Hunter and Matthew Gray.
Hunter then also grabbed an o-board and put it back to give Maitland the 6-2 start but Sutherland soon responded and were back in front following an and-one play from Adrian Cabrera.
Deng Gak out here making killer dimes look ???? ?
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MVP Will Cranston-Lown then landed a three-pointer to return Maitland to the lead but soon after Lochlan Hutchison did the same even though he wasn’t able to complete the four-point play, and it was the Sharks back up one after the opening five minutes.
The lead continued to switch hands the rest of the opening quarter before Cranston-Lown completed a three-point play to give the Mustangs the 22-18 advantage.
It took less than a minute and-a-half of the second quarter for the Sharks to return to the lead first with a layup from Deng Gak, then three-pointer from Aaron Waban and another bucket to Cabrera off a Maitland turnover.
It was then time for Beasley to catch fire for Sutherland going into half-time and he did help his team to lead by as much as five, but by the break the Mustangs had managed to tie scores back up at 37-37.
It was basket for basket to start the second half until Geoff Gerlach grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to put Sutherland on top by three. Hutchison backed that up scoring off a steal and the Sharks were up five.
That lead got out to nine on the back of four quick points from Cabrera just before three quarter-time with the Sharks' lead then out to nine by the end of the period thanks to a four-point play from Hutchison and two more free-throws from the MVP.
Maitland needed to respond to start the fourth quarter to avoid back-to-back Grand Final losses and Josh Clifford did open the scoring for them. Billy Parsons then scored too and so did Will Mortimore and suddenly the margin was just three with eight minutes to play.
The margin was still three when Parsons scored again with 4:45 to go, but the Sharks continued to have all the answers and it started with the next four points from Jordan Mitchell.
The Mustangs still weren’t going to lie down and a tripe from Cranston-Lown had them back within four, and then a Parsons triple had them within three late in the piece.
But Sutherland just wasn’t going to be denied with Hutchison keeping the margin three with a free-throw and then a desperation half-court prayer from Gray for Maitland had hearts in mouth, but it was just too long and the Sharks secured the championship with the three-point win.
Campbell Blogg, ?? ?? ???????? ?
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