NBL1 North Round 6 Friday night men’s recap

Catch up on the Round 6 action from the NBL1 North men’s competition on Friday night.

Rockhampton Rockets 73 def by South West Metro Pirates 88

South West Metro Pirates picked up their first win of the season with an 88-73 win over Rockhampton Rockets at Bravus Arena on Friday night.

Switching from South East Melbourne (NBL) to South West Metro (NBL1), Australian Boomer Mitch Creek helped the Pirates take a new direction with 30 points, 14 rebounds and 7 assists.

Creek, who was this week named in the Australian Olympic 19-man training squad for Tokyo, and fellow NBL player Brendan Teys (27 points) combined for 57 points –  64.7% of South West’s attack.

Teys was joined in the Pirates backcourt by Kai Woodfall, who contributed 14 points and five assists.

Rockhampton’s Najeal Young (31 points, 8 rebounds) and Josh Wilcher (22 points, 8 assists) put up the main resistance for the home side, but they could not hold on to a three-point lead (63-60) going into the final quarter.

The Pirates went on a 10-0 run in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter to take a seven-point lead (70-63) and back that up with another 10-0 run, from the six-minute mark to 3.29, to lead 80-67.

Logan Thunder 89 def Brisbane Capitals 77

Logan Thunder continued their unbeaten run with an 89-77 home win over Brisbane Capitals at Bendigo Bank Cornubia Park Sports Centre on Friday night.

The Thunder continued to share their attack options around as centre Mitch Young scored a game-high 23 points and 13 rebounds, and he was joined by Jeremy Kendle (19 points, 9 assists), Boston Mazlin (15 points including 5 of 7 from deep), and Michael Cedar (pictured, 12 points).

Brisbane also had four contributors in double figures with Ben Volkman (16 points), Tamuri Wigness (13 points), Nicholas Stoddart (13 points), and Timothy Soong (11 points).

The Thunder used an 11-0 run midway through the third quarter to stretch their lead to 15 points (64-49) at the 3.57 mark.

Ipswich Force 96 def Sunshine Coast Phoenix 90

Ipswich Force have won back-to-back overtime wins with a 96-90 win over Sunshine Coast Phoenix at JBS Stadium on Friday night.

Down 10 (66-56) after three quarters, the Force went on a 10-2 run to start the fourth period and pull within a possession (66-68) with 6.30 left in regulation time.

Force guard Nathan Sobey, also named in the Australian Olympic 19-man training squad for Tokyo, scored 13 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter, including three of his five three-pointers. The Brisbane Bullets star, who found his range at the right time in last week’s overtime win, added seven more points in overtime.

Force centre Matthew Hodgson, on debut and alongside his Bullets teammate in the Ipswich NBL1 side, contributed a 17 points and 15 rebounds double double. They were joined by Jason Ralph (18 points, including four three-pointers) and Manylok Malek (10 points) in double figures.

Phoenix guard Jamaal Robateau top scored for the visitors with 28 points, while his backcourt partner and brother Darnell tallied 10 points and 10 assists. Zane Meehl would also contribute 15 points.

The Sunshine Coast bigs went to work with Oscar Cluff (19 points, 16 rebounds) and Nelson Kahler (12 points, 12 rebounds) in the thick of things.

Townsville Heat 73 def by USC Rip City 86

USC Rip City picked up their first road win with an 86-73 win over Townsville Heat at Townsville StarFM Stadium on Friday night.

Rip City forward Tanner Krebs scored a game high 25 points and he was joined by Isaih Tueta (18 points), Eric McAlister (13 points), Kyle Zunic (12 points), and Josh Tueta (10 points) in double figures.

McAlister registered a double double with 12 rebounds. The USC forward hit 3 of 6 from long range to help the visitors to nine three-pointers in the game at 31%.

Townsville guard Ethan Betts top scored for the home side with 24 points.

Rip City established a 12-point lead (47-35) at the half thanks partly to a 10-0 run midway through the second quarter. USC guard Kai Bloom made the most of his brief stint with two three-pointers in the run.