NBL1 North Round 4 Saturday night men’s recap

Catch up on the Round 4 action from the NBL1 North men’s competition on Saturday night.

USC Rip City 90 def Rockhampton Rockets 73

Rip City’s Isaih Tueta and Eric McAlister have powered USC to a 90-73 win over Rockhampton Rockets at USC Sports Stadium.

USC point guard Tueta (pictured) scored a game-high 29 points and forward McAlister added 26, including six three-pointers, to combine for 61% of Rip City’s offence. Tueta, the Rip City court general, tallied a double-double as he dished out 15 assists.

USC forward Sebastian Morris crashed the boards to pull down 15 of Rip City’s 54 rebounds. Rip City had 54-43 rebounds and 24-13 assists advantage, but it was their superior shooting efficiency (36 of 77 field goals made compared to 29 of 80) that was the major factor in the victory.

Rip City, up 45-39 at the main break, went on an 11-2 run to start the second half and set up a 15-point lead midway through the third quarter.

Rockhampton’s Najeal Young (23 points, 12 rebounds) and Jared Blanchard (10 points, 10 rebounds) put up double-doubles for the visitors.

Brisbane Capitals 86 def South West Metro Pirates 78

Brisbane Capitals improved to a 4-1 win-loss record after an 86-78 win over crosstown rivals South West Metro Pirates at Auchenflower Stadium.

Capitals guard Nicholas Stoddart top scored for the home side with 21 points and forward Ben Wilson tallied a double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

The Brisbane bigs, including Wilson, Geordan Papacostas (13 points), and Ben Volkman (12 points), helped the Capitals to a scoring efficiency of 44.4% (36 of 81 field goals made). The Pirates hit just 27 of 75 (36%).

Pirates guard Kai Woodfall (24 points) and forward Joel Matysek (19 points) combined for 55% of South West Metro’s offence.

Ipswich Force 73 def by Townsville Heat 92

Townsville’s Richard Peachey had the hot hand to help Townsville defeat Ipswich Force 92-73 at JBS Stadium.

The Heat guard was a perfect 6 of 6 from the field including four three-pointers on his way to 16 points, while Townsville forward Josh Spiers scored a team high 20 points.

Peachey was joined in the backcourt by Ethan Betts (14 points and 6 assists) and Jalen Patton-Croker (10 points and 6 assists).

Force forward Manylok Malek scored a game-high 21 points, while guards Jason Ralph added 19 points and Ryan Jeffries 13 points respectively.

The Heat bounced back from a Friday night loss at Logan to improve their record to 3-2 heading into their Round 4 third leg at the Gold Coast on Sunday.