Featured image: Travis Palmieri @traviphotography
The Mackay Meteors had a brilliant NBL1 North season and are a chance to claim a National Championship even without Todd Blanchfield and Isaac White after beating the NBL1 West's Mandurah Magic 93-82 on Friday.
The Meteors had been the standout team of the NBL1 North season on their way to the championship winning in two games of the Grand Final series against the Brisbane Capitals.
They then had two weeks to get ready for the National Finals in what will be coach Joel Khalu's final weekend in charge before he joins the Illawarra Hawks full-time for the NBL season after finishing off NBL24 working with Justin Tatum.
However, without Blanchfield and White along with emerging big man Luca Yates, coming up against a Mandurah team on the high off a first ever NBL1 West championship last week at RAC Arena in front of 6460 people was going to be a big test.
With Joel Murray and Michael Durr a brilliant guard-centre pairing, the Magic arrived at Caloundra Indoor Stadium full of confidence and then shot out of the blocks with 19 points in just over three minutes, and 36 points in the first period.
Mackay locked in defensively from there, got physical and then found enough offensive punch to take charge most of the rest of the way to win by 11.
Aiden Krause played all 40 minutes for the Meteors and came up big with 22 points, 11 rebounds, five steals, three assists and two blocks.
Emmett Naar used all his experience and craftiness to play all 40 minutes as well and deliver a triple-double made up of 13 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds.
Jerron Jamerson also had 18 points and nine rebounds, Amarco Doyle 14 points, six boards and two steals, and Christian Maran 12 points and seven rebounds.
Afterwards, Krause was just happy and relieved to get the win especially after he flew into the Sunshine Coast on the morning of the game.
"The boys flew down yesterday and I flew down this morning because I had to work yesterday so I'm a bit tired, but it was a good hit out and we knew it wasn’t going to be easy against Mandurah," Krause said.
"But it was fun and I'm glad we got the win. All year JK has been saying that if someone is out or has an injury, everyone always gets an opportunity.
"We haven’t had a game where someone hasn’t done that and we knew in this tournament the NBL guys wouldn’t be here.
"So I think in our minds we were already preparing for that and the young boys stepped up, and all our starters stepped up. It was exciting and everyone played well."
Considering the first quarter they produced and the momentum they arrived with, Mandurah will be disappointed not to close the deal with Joel Murray finishing with 22 points, nine rebounds and eight assists despite hurting a leg in the second half and appearing restricted.
Jarrod Molnar hit four threes in the first quarter on his way to 17 points while Michael Durr contributed 14 points, 19 rebounds and four blocks, Julian Pesava 14 points and six boards, and Lachlan Bertram seven points, three rebounds and two steals.
On the back of their historic maiden NBL1 West championship secured in spectacular fashion at RAC Arena last Saturday, the Magic came out on the Sunshine Coast on fire including Jarrod Molnar hitting two quick three-point daggers.
Julian Pesava then also soon hit a three ball for Mandurah and when Molnar made a third of the period already, he was enjoying being back in his home state and the Magic were out to a 19-6 lead.
Joel Khalu was forced into the timeout having given up 19 points in 3:15 of the game but Molnar finished with a fourth triple and by quarter-time it was Mandurah leading 36-21 and having made a statement with a triple from 334-game veteran Corey Easley with 30 seconds to go.
Mackay turned up their defensive intensity and by putting up the pressure and making life tough for the NBL1 West MVP and Grand Final MVP Joel Murray.
By making his life hard just bringing the ball up the floor and also to try and create a shot or get to the basket, Mackay were able to turn the game around and held the Magic to just 12 points in the second quarter.
The Meteors scored 21 themselves and had cut the Mandurah lead to 48-42 at the main break.
It was more of the same in the third quarter and the Meteors even found more of their offensive groove to pile on 29 points. There was even a scare for Mandurah with Murray slipping and going off hurt, but that would only be brief before he was able to return.
He couldn’t stop the momentum going in Mackay's favour, though, and the Meteors were leading 71-69 by three quarter-time, and then made a dominant start to the fourth term.
Mackay scored 14 of the first 15 points of the final period including massive three-pointers from Kye Medhurst, Emmett Naar and then Amarco Doyle as that lead grew to 15 points.
Mandurah had 19 points in the game's first three minutes, but just one in almost the first five of the fourth quarter.
The Magic did still make one more late charge and two minutes later following a three-point play from Murray and a putback after he grabbed the layup he had blocked by Aiden Krause.
That had the margin at just five and Mandurah had picked the momentum back up, but Mackay responded starting with an alley-oop from Doyle on the pass from Jerron Jamerson.
Krause and Jamerson then scored to close out the contest and the Meteors scored the 11-point win to keep their hopes of a National Championship alive with or without Todd Blanchfield, Luca Yates and Issac White.
MACKAY METEORS 93 (Krause 22, Jamerson 18, Doyle 14)
MANDURAH MAGIC 82 (Murray 22, Molnar 17, Pesava 14, Durr 14)
For further information on the official destination of the National Finals, head to www.visitsunshinecoast.com
