Sun Aug 20 2023

NBL1 National Finals Recap | Men's Championship Game 2023

By Chris Pike for NBL1.com.au

No matter the side of the country, Ke'Jhan Feagin has cemented himself one of the guns of the NBL1 as he inspired the seven deep Knox Raiders to the NBL1 National Championship by beating the defending champion Rockingham Flames 90-85 on Sunday.

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No matter the side of the country, Ke'Jhan Feagin has cemented himself one of the guns of the NBL1 as he inspired the seven deep Knox Raiders to the NBL1 National Championship by beating the defending champion Rockingham Flames 90-85 on Sunday.

The Raiders had to win their way into the NBL1 South Grand Final the hard way after losing their qualifying final, but they overcame the Sandringham Sabres last Saturday night to claim their conference championship.

Then despite the absence of an NBL experienced front court Mason Peatling and Deng Acouth, they have now completed their perfect weekend at the National Finals at HBF Arena Joondalup by scoring the stunning 90-85 Championship Game victory against the Rockingham Flames.

NBL1 NATIONAL FINALS RECAP | SATURDAY MEN

NBL1 NATIONAL FINALS RECAP | FRIDAY MEN

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MEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Raiders dig deep for stunning National Championship triumph

The Knox Raiders are the new NBL1 National Champions and they produced a stunning weekend with only seven available players capped off with the 90-85 Championship Game win against the Rockingham Flames.

Rockingham came into the weekend with a point to prove after bowing out of the NBL1 West season in the preliminary final despite finishing on top of the table in defence of last year's championship.

The Flames still had a National Championship to defend and they weren’t short on motivation all weekend at HBF Arena Joondalup with a full squad available.

Knox might have also finished the NBL1 South season in top spot, but then had to win in Mount Gambier just to get to the Grand Final, and then overcame the Sandringham Sabres to win the championship last Saturday night.

The Raiders then arrived in Perth missing their NBL experienced front court pair Deng Acouth and Mason Peatling, and with only seven available players, but they still won through to the Championship Game with wins over the West Adelaide Bearcats and Sutherland Sharks.

Rockingham started the Championship Game on fire racing to a 14-2 lead early, but Knox soon settled into the game and were able to keep the Flames' hot shooting in relative control the rest of the way.

Wayne Stewart Jr sparked Knox with a huge first half but then captain Ke'Jhan Feagin proved himself the best player on the court on the way to being named Championship Game MVP making big play after big play.

Knox still had to overcome four triples from Devondrick Walker in the final quarter for the Flames, but the Raiders dug deep and the two biggest buckets of the game came from Feagin in the final minute for the eventual five-point win.

Feagin claimed the MVP on the back of 27 points, nine assists, three steals and two rebounds to lead the Raiders admirably once more.

Wayne Stewart Jr might have had just two points in the second half, but was instrumental in setting up Knox in the first half to finish with 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

Last week's NBL1 South Grand Final MVP Bailey Nunn stood up once more ahead of heading to Sacramento State University with 15 points, four rebounds and two assists to share the national championship with his dad and head coach Matthew.

South East Melbourne Phoenix development player Austin Rapp stood up well up against Tom Jervis too for 14 points, 12 rebounds, two assists and two steals with Madut Akec adding 11 points and 10 rebounds, Jacob Foy two points, two assists, two steals and two blocks, and Dylan Hare two points and four boards.

Two-time NBL1 West MVP Devondrick Walker did all he could for Rockingham with 37 points on 14/22 shooting from the floor and 9/12 from three-point range.

Jeremy Combs ended up with 20 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three blocks, Marshall Nelson nine points, seven assists, four boards and two steals, Ryan Godfrey seven points and three rebounds, and Tom Jervis six points, 12 boards, two assists and two blocks.

Devondrick Walker got the Championship Game off to a perfect start for Rockingham with a three ball and then after Wayne Stewart Jr scored for Knox, the Flames got rolling to get the home crowd up and about on the Sunday afternoon.

Jeremy Combs added four and Ryan Godfrey five as part of an 11-0 run for Rockingham to make it 14-2 after three minutes before Knox started working back into the game with a triple from Austin Rapp.

Stewart managed a couple of three-point plays for the Raiders and Ke'Jhan Feagin landed a three-pointer, but the Flames shot at 64 per cent for the quarter with 4/7 from downtown to be on top 26-16 after one.

Tom Jervis pushed the Rockingham lead out to 12 to start the second quarter but the Raiders were warming to the task beginning with Grand Final MVP Bailey Nunn hitting a three after going 0/4 to start the Championship Game.

The Flames were still up shortly after but the Raiders had managed to lock in defensively and then started to roll offensively with some spectacular plays on both ends.

In consecutive possessions, Combs and Stewart threw down emphatic one-handed slams and then then suddenly with another three ball from Feagin, and and-one from Stewart, and triple from Nunn and Knox were in front.

The Raiders stayed that way too leading 49-45 by half-time with Stewart and Feagin combining for 31 points while as a team they went 5/11 from downtown in the second quarter while holding Rockingham to 0/6.

Knox kept that momentum going to open the second half with early three-pointers to Feagin and Madut Akec to push their lead out to eight. It then grew to 13 on the back of scoring eight consecutive points from Feagin, Dunn, Akec and Jacob Foy.

Rockingham needed to respond and did with a couple of triples to Walker, but still by three quarter-time it was the Raiders leading 69-64.

There were signs of Knox just running out of legs and understandably so having gone through the weekend with just seven players, and Rockingham had Walker.

The two-time NBL1 West MVP hit three three-pointers in the first five and-a-half minutes of the final period, and when he hit the third it was Rockingham back in front by two with all the momentum.

However, Knox just weren’t going to be denied. Stewart and Rapp scored buckets before Nunn completed a 5-0 run to put the Raiders back up five.

Walker and Akec traded three-pointers for their respective teams but in the final minute, Feagin took charge. He made the two biggest buckets of the game both driving to the rack and finishing in traffic.

That saw the Raiders claim the five-point victory to become the National Champions eight days after winning the NBL1 South title, and coming to the other side of the country without two of their most important players.

Hosted by City of Joondalup and supported by Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural industries, Lottery West & Sullivan’s

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