Featured images: LookPro Photography
Jessie-May Hall starred again in NBL1 East for Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders while Unique Thompson and Mikayla Pivec ensured Albury-Wodonga Bandits stayed perfect with Glenn Morison, Alex Higgins-Titsha, Myles Cherry, Ryan Beisty and Davo Hickey having big men's nights.
The women's NBL1 East results on Saturday saw the Albury-Wodonga Bandits beat the Central Coast Crusaders 106-81 while the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders downed the Inner West Bulls 106-63, the Centre of Excellence downed the Penrith Panthers 78-68, and the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles won 93-64 over the Maitland Mustangs.
The Newcastle Falcons also beat the Illawarra Hawks 93-81, the Sutherland Sharks defeated the Bankstown Bruins 93-81, and the Norths Bears downed the Canberra Nationals 92-78.
Then in the men's action, the Bulls beat the Spiders 128-87, the Centre of Excellence defeated the Panthers 96-70, the Mustangs downed the Sea Eagles 96-73, the Falcons won 95-82 against the Hawks, the Sharks beat the Bruins 92-77, the Bandits defeated the Crusaders 101-97, and Canberra defeated the Bears 83-72.
RECAP NBL1 EAST | ROUND 8 SUNDAY
WOMEN
Norths Bears (92) defeated Canberra Nationals (78)
The defending champion Norths Bears made it 10 straight wins this season with the 92-78 home victory against the Canberra Nationals.
The Bears were back home at North Sydney Indoor Sports Centre putting their nine-game winning run on the line up against a Canberra team also arriving on a two-game winning run.
Norths were fresh off wins over Manly Warringah and Newcastle last weekend but it was a tight battle in the first quarter with scores tied at 23-23 by quarter-time.
It was then in the second period when the Bears pulled away as they went on a 16-0 scoring streak and ended up outscoring the Nationals 32 points to 12 in the quarter to end up leading 55-35 at the half-time interval.
The Bears opened up that gap further to end up leading by as much as 31 points and from there held out Canberra for the 14-point victory.
Norths have now won 10 straight this season to improve to a 12-1 record with Ae'Rianna Harris finishing with 21 points, four rebounds and two blocked shots.
Maddie O'Hehir added 15 points, eight assists, four rebounds and two steals, Caitlyn Martin 13 points and four assists, Carla Pitman 13 points, five rebounds and five assists, Emily Simons 12 points and three boards, and Sarah Schicher 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Canberra is now 5-8 on the season with the defeat with Amelia Motz top-scoring with 19 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Lizzy Tonks added 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists, Maddison Penn 11 points and three boards, and Callie Bourne 10 points, six rebounds and two assists.
The Bears now don't play again until hosting the Central Coast Crusaders on Saturday June 15 while Canberra has a double against the Centre of Excellence on Thursday and Friday nights.
NORTHS BEARS 92 (Harris 21, O'Hehir 15, Pitman 13, Martin 13)
CANBERRA NATIONALS 78 (Motz 19, Tonks 12, Penn 11)
Bankstown Bruins (81) lost to Sutherland Sharks (93)
The Sutherland Sharks kept their NBL1 East playoff hopes alive with Aliza Fabbro putting up 31 points in a 93-81 win on the road against the Bankstown Bruins.
The Bruins came into the contest at Bankstown Basketball Stadium on a seven-game losing streak as they hosted a Sharks team also having lost their past couple.
Bankstown was hunting a third win of the season and with Jihyun Park leading the way, the home team started strongly to open up a 10-point lead during the first quarter.
The Bruins would again be out to a 13-point advantage during the second period but by half-time the Sharks had closed that gap to just two.
Sutherland then turned up the heat in the second half starting with 33 points to 26 in the third quarter. The Sharks then scored another 23 to 16 in the fourth on the way to the eventual 12-point win.
The victory improves the Sharks to 5-6 on the season with Aliza Fabbro leading the charge with 31 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
Emily Garland also contributed 19 points on 4/5 three-point shooting, Maddie Norris 17 points, 11 rebounds and three assists, and Olivia White seven points, 10 boards and five assists.
The Bruins have now lost eight in-a-row at 2-11 with Jihyun Park finishing with 32 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and four steals in a huge performance from the Korean star.
Britney Wright also had 14 points and six rebounds, Kira-May Filemu 12 points and eight boards, and Abbey Vallance 10 points, four assists and three rebounds.
The Sharks back up to play on Sunday afternoon on the road to the Central Coast Crusaders while the Bruins will be back at home to the Maitland Mustangs on Saturday June 15.
BANKSTOWN BRUINS 81 (Park 32, Wright 14, Filemu 12)
SUTHERLAND SHARKS 93 (Fabbro 31, Garland 19, Norris 17)
Illawarra Hawks (81) lost to Newcastle Falcons (93)
Reigning MVP Nicole Munger delivered another dominant performance to lead the Newcastle Falcons to the 93-81 road victory against the Illawarra Hawks.
Newcastle arrived at The Snakepit having just suffered a second loss of the season at the hands of the Norths Bears as they took on an Illawarra team trying to improve on a .500 record and to bounce back from losing to the Centre of Excellence.
The Falcons started strongly to be leading 28-20 by quarter-time before pulling further ahead in the second term with another 20 points to 11 to go into the half-time break on top 48-31.
Newcastle retained control throughout the second half too leading by as much as 19 points once more on the way to the 12-point victory to improve to 11-2 on the season.
Nicole Munger delivered a standout performance in the win for the Falcons finishing with 35 points, 14 rebounds, four steals and three assists on 10/20 shooting from the floor, 3/7 from deep and 12/12 at the foul line.
Isla Juffermans also had 17 points and 10 rebounds for Newcastle, Aarion Nichols 16 points, six boards, three steals and two assists, Sophie Brennan 13 points and four assists, and Hannah Chicken nine points, seven rebounds and three assists.
Illawarra slips to 6-7 with the back-to-back defeats despite getting 24 points, five rebounds and four steals from Asha Phillips who shot 9/13 from the field and 3/4 from three-point range.
Ella Dent added 14 points, five assists, five steals and four rebounds, and Emilia Garcia Leon 11 points, six boards and two assists.
The Hawks will next play on Saturday June 15 on the road to the Sydney Comets with Newcastle away to the Albury-Wodonga Bandits that same evening.
ILLAWARRA HAWKS 81 (Phillips 24, Dent 14, Garcia Leon 11)
NEWCASTLE FALCONS 93 (Munger 35, Juffermans 17, Nichols 16)
Maitland Mustangs (64) lost to Manly Warringah Sea Eagles (93)
The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles responded in emphatic fashion to a first loss of the season with the 93-64 road victory over the Maitland Mustangs.
Manly Warringah suffered a first loss of the season last week against the Norths Bears ahead of taking on the Mustangs at Maitland Federation Centre who were also attempting to hit back from a defeat to the Sydney Comets.
The Sea Eagles didn’t take long to make a statement of their intentions, though, with a 25 points to six in opening quarter.
Even though Maitland did well to hit back with 27 points to 18 in the second term, it was still Manly Warringah leading 44-33 at half-time before they took charge further throughout the second half.
The Sea Eagles outscored the Mustangs 28 points to 17 in the third quarter and 21 to 14 in the fourth on the way to the emphatic 29-point victory away from home.
After that first loss of the season last week, Manly Warringah are now 9-1 following the win with Josie Bulman delivering 17 points, 10 rebounds and two assists.
Bree Delaney also contributed 17 points, six boards, four assists and two steals, Brooke Flowers 14 points and four blocked shots, Zoey Miller 13 points and nine assists, Antonia Henderson 11 points, eight rebounds and three assists, and Alex Delaney 11 points, five boards and four assists.
Maitland slips to 4-8 on the season with the loss with Natsumi Kohama producing 18 points, five rebounds and three assists while Isabella Jennings contributed 11 points and seven boards, and Shakera Reilly nine points and eight rebounds.
The Sea Eagles will back up to host the Albury-Wodonga Bandits on Sunday with the Mustangs away to the Bankstown Bruins on Saturday June 15.
MAITLAND MUSTANGS 64 (Kohama 18, Jennings 11, Reilly 9)
MANLY WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 93 (Bulman 17, B Delaney 17, Flowers 14)
Penrith Panthers (68) lost to Centre of Excellence (78)
Despite the availability of only six players, the Centre of Excellence were able to score the 78-68 victory on the road against the Penrith Panthers.
The Panthers hosted the CoE at Penrith Valley Regional Sports Centre with the home team trying to snap a three-game losing streak with the Basketball Australia emerging stars only having six players who would come onto the court for the game.
The Centre of Excellence were leading by three points at quarter-time before stretching that advantage to six at the half-time interval.
The CoE were able to stretch that lead out to as much as 11 points in the second half before holding on for the eventual 10-point victory to improve to a 7-6 record on the season.
It was a supremely impressive win for the Centre of Excellence considering only six players hit the court with each of those having to play at least 29 minutes with two of them playing all 40.
That included Sienna Harvey who produced 21 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists while Monique Bobongie finished with 22 points and nine boards with 6/8 shooting from three-point territory.
Opal Bird also had 17 points, six rebounds and two assists, and Jade Crook 10 points and 13 boards.
Penrith has now lost four straight matches to slip to a 3-9 record on the season with Tahlia Tupaea doing all she could to give the Panthers a chance with another 24 points and nine rebounds.
Mia Heide also finished with 19 points, 18 rebounds and five assists, and Chloe Williams 14 points, four assists and two rebounds.
The Panthers will be on the road to the Hills Hornets on Sunday with the Centre of Excellence having a double against Canberra next Thursday and Friday night.
PENRITH PANTHERS 68 (Tupaea 24, Heide 19, Williams 14)
CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE 78 (Bobongie 22, Harvey 21, Bird 17)
Inner West Bulls (63) lost to Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders (106)
The Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders made it three straight wins with the 106-63 thumping road win over the Inner West Bulls with teen sensation Jessie-May Hall putting up 27 points.
The Spiders arrived at ELS Hall Park having won their past two games as they came up against an Inner West team sitting in bottom spot on a nine-game losing streak.
Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai didn’t take long to work on top ending up leading 27-18 by quarter-time with that advantage getting out to 14 points in the second period.
The Spiders would still be leading 47-37 by half-time but the Bulls were still in touch.
It didn’t stay that way through the second half with Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai outscoring Inner West 28 points to 14 in the third frame, and 31 to 12 in the fourth on the way to the emphatic 43-point win.
The victory is a third straight for the Spiders to see them improve to 4-10 on the season with 17-year-old young star Jessie-May Hall brilliant again with 27 points, 10 rebounds, nine steals and six assists on shooting 13/23 from the floor.
Courtney Murphy also contributed 17 points and eight rebounds with Keira Hudson adding 14 points, five steals and four rebounds, Haruna Inamura 13 points, two boards and two steals, and Ay'Anna Bey 11 points, four rebounds and two assists.
The Bulls have now lost 10 in-a-row to be 1-13 on the season with Tylah Mundine finishing with 16 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Shiho Yamazaki added 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists, and Paith Gabriel nine points and seven boards.
Inner West will next be on the road to the Canberra Nationals on Saturday June 15 with Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai to play the Centre of Excellence on that same afternoon.
INNER WEST BULLS 63 (Mundine 16, Yamazaki 15, Gabriel 9)
HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 106 (Hall 27, Murphy 17, Hudson 14)
Central Coast Crusaders (81) lost to Albury-Wodonga Bandits (106)
A huge triple-double from Mikayla Pivec continued to ensure the Albury-Wodonga Bandits kept winning even in the absence of Lauren Jackson as she starred in the 106-81 road win over the Central Coast Crusaders.
It's a double-header weekend on the road for the Bandits and they arrived at Breakers Indoor Sports Stadium on a 12-game winning streak to be undefeated this season so far up against a Crusaders team also having won their last couple.
Even in the absence because of Australian Opals commitments of Jackson, the Bandits have kept winning with the arrival of 2022 Grand Final MVP Unique Thompson helping that cause, and they were already out to a 22-13 lead by quarter-time.
Albury-Wodonga then turned it on in the second term with 35 points to 24 to go into half-time well in control at 57-37.
From there the Bandits consolidated their advantage throughout the second half to go on to win by 25 points and improve to a perfect 13-0 on the season.
Mikayla Pivec ran the show expertly in the win for Albury-Wodonga ending up with a triple-double consisting of 27 points, 12 assists and 11 rebounds while shooting 10/17 from the floor.
Unique Thompson showed that she's lost nothing since that 2022 championship as she produced 32 points and 13 rebounds on 10/16 shooting from the field and 9/10 at the free-throw line.
Ash Hannan also had 13 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots, Elizabeth Murphy 12 points and six boards, and Awatea Leach 11 points, three assists and two rebounds.
The Crusaders are now 8-4 with the defeat with Sara Matthews doing all she could finishing with 25 points, 12 rebounds and six assists.
Kristina Moore also had 16 points and two rebounds for Central Coast, Taryn Mahoney 12 points and three boards on 4/7 three-point shooting and Darneka Rowe nine points and two rebounds.
The Bandits stay on the road on Sunday afternoon to take on Manly Warringah Sea Eagles with the Crusaders back at home to take on the Sutherland Sharks.
CENTRAL COAST CRUSADERS 81 (Matthews 25, Moore 16, Cranney 15)
ALBURY-WODONGA BANDITS 106 (Thompson 32, Pivec 27, Hannan 13)
MEN
Norths Bears (72) lost to Canberra Gunners (83)
Glenn Morison had 31 points and 15 rebounds and the Canberra Gunners made it 11 straight wins with the 83-72 road win over the Norths Bears.
Canberra arrived at North Sydney Indoor Sports Centre on a 10-game winning streak and sitting atop the NBL1 East standings ahead of taking on a Bears team looking to build some momentum after a win against the Newcastle Falcons.
Canberra did threaten to open up a commanding lead a couple of times throughout the first half but it never quite reached a double-figure advantage with the Gunners on top by four at quarter-time, and by three at half-time.
However, it was in the third frame when the Gunners asserted their authority on the contest with 28 points to just 14 from the Bears to see that lead out to 20 points and they would end up securing the 11-point triumph from there.
It's an 11th consecutive win for Canberra to improve to 12-1 on the season with 2022 Grand Final MVP Glenn Morison shining with 31 points, 15 rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots on 11/14 shooting from the floor.
Will Mayfield added 14 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and two steals, Derek Emelifeonwu 11 points, and Cameron Pender eight points, five rebounds and five assists.
Norths slip to a 7-6 record with the defeat with Mandrell Worthy delivering 25 points, three rebounds and three assists on 11/21 shooting from the field.
Cooper Wilks also scored 12 points and Brennan Rymer nine to go with three assists.
The Bears now don't play again until hosting the Central Coast Crusaders on Saturday June 15 while Canberra has a double against the Centre of Excellence on Thursday and Friday nights.
NORTHS BEARS 72 (Worthy 25, Wilks 12, Rymer 9)
CANBERRA GUNNERS 83 (Morison 31, Mayfield 14, Emelifeonwu 11)
Bankstown Bruins (77) lost to Sutherland Sharks (92)
The Sutherland Sharks continued to breathe some life back into their championship defence with the 92-77 road win over the Bankstown Bruins.
Having lost six of their first nine games of the season on the back of winning the 2023 championship, the Sharks still have quite the hole to climb out of, but they did get back to winning last week over the Newcastle Falcons.
The Sharks then arrived on Saturday at Bankstown Basketball Stadium taking on a Bruins team also looking to stay in the playoff mix and coming off beating the Central Coast Crusaders.
It was the Bruins who had the better of the start opening up a 12-point lead in the first quarter. Even though the Sharks pulled the deficit back to six at quarter-time, Bankstown were back out to the 15-point lead in the second period.
The Sharks had to respond and were able to get back within seven at half-time.
Sutherland was then able to take control in the second half with 25 points to 12 in the third quarter, and 27 to 18 in the fourth to end up scoring the 15-point victory in the ultimate game of two halves.
The win improves the Sharks to 5-6 on the season with Brian Williams delivering 23 points, three rebounds and two steals on 10/19 shooting from the floor.
Adrian Cabrera added 20 points, four assists, three rebounds and three steals, Lochlan Hutchison 19 points, seven assists and five boards, Geoff Gerlach 12 points, nine rebounds and four assists, and Callum Norris 12 points.
The Bruins are now 7-6 with the defeat with Naaman Hightower finishing with 15 points, eight rebounds, five assists with Hayden Blankley contributing 15 points, five boards, three assists and two steals, Tom Buvac 14 points and six assists, and Charlie McBeath 12 points and three blocked shots.
The Sharks back up to play on Sunday afternoon on the road to the Central Coast Crusaders while the Bruins will be back at home to the Maitland Mustangs on Saturday June 15.
BANKSTOWN BRUINS 77 (Hightower 15, Blankley 15, Buvac 14)
SUTHERLAND SHARKS 92 (Williams 23, Cabrera 20, Hutchison 19)
Illawarra Hawks (82) lost to Newcastle Falcons (95)
Big nights from Myles Cherry and Ryan Beisty ensured the Newcastle Falcons got back to winning with the 95-82 victory on the road to the Illawarra Hawks.
Both teams came into the match up at The Snakepit needing the win with a combined 6-18 record on the season so far.
The Falcons would gradually build on their advantage against the Hawks throughout the evening opening up a six-point lead by quarter-time.
Newcastle was able to grow that lead out to as much as 11 points in the second period, 15 in the third and 20 in the fourth. Illawarra did finish the better but couldn’t ever get close enough to strike with the Falcons scoring the 13-point victory.
With the win, Newcastle improves to a 5-8 record on the season with Myles Cherry producing 25 points and 16 rebounds on 10/14 shooting from the field.
Ryan Beisty also delivered 25 points, eight rebounds, five steals, three assists and two blocks on 10/17 shooting.
Francis Wineera-Mulvihill added 14 points, seven assists and six rebounds, and Kobe Shannon 12 points and two assists.
The Hawks have now lost consecutive games once again to have a 2-11 record on the season with Philip Dopud top-scoring with 21 points and eight rebounds.
Riley Abercrombie added 17 points, two rebounds and two assists, Matthew Frierson 15 points, five boards and four assists, Brad Ballinger 12 points and four rebounds, and Jacob Smith 10 points and five boards.
The Hawks will next play on Saturday June 15 on the road to the Sydney Comets with Newcastle away to the Albury-Wodonga Bandits that same evening.
ILLAWARRA HAWKS 82 (Dopud 21, Abercrombie 17, Frierson 15)
NEWCASTLE FALCONS 95 (Cherry 25, Beisty 25, Wineera-Mulvihill 14)
Maitland Mustangs (96) defeated Manly Warringah Sea Eagles (73)
Will Cranston-Lown and Matthew Gray combined for 45 points in the eventual 96-73 win for the Maitland Mustangs against the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.
The Mustangs came into the match up on their home floor at Maitland Federation Centre on a three-game winning run since their lone loss of the season to the Hills Hornets as they hosted the third placed Sea Eagles.
Manly Warringah were just one game behind the second placed Mustangs coming into the Saturday night match up and for the majority of the opening three quarters it was a tight contest.
Maitland was leading 20-17 by quarter-time and while the Mustangs pushed out to an 11-point lead in the second period, by half-time that lead was back to 46-41.
The home team again moved out to a 16-point lead in the third quarter but still by three quarter-time Manly Warringah were hanging in there to be only 11 points behind.
It was in the final period with Maitland making sure of the win, though, with 28 points to 16 from the Sea Eagles to end up winning by 23 and making it four straight wins to be clear in second place at 11-1.
Reigning MVP Will Cranston-Lown was outstanding again for the Mustangs in the win with 23 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals on shooting 9/13 from the field.
Matthew Gray added 22 points, seven rebounds and three blocks as well for Maitland on 9/15 shooting with James Hunter contributing 13 points, four boards and two steals, and Christian Little 10 points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists.
The Sea Eagles slip to a 7-3 record on the season with the defeat with Matthew Eldridge top-scoring with 16 points and four rebounds on 6/10 shooting including 2/4 from downtown.
Mason Bragg also contributed 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and Zackary Kimball 10 points and two boards.
The Sea Eagles will back up to host the Albury-Wodonga Bandits on Sunday with the Mustangs away to the Bankstown Bruins on Saturday June 15.
MAITLAND MUSTANGS 96 (Cranston-Lown 23, Gray 22, Hunter 13)
MANLY WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 73 (Eldridge 16, Bragg 14, Kimball 10)
Penrith Panthers (70) lost to Centre of Excellence (96)
It was another dominant performance from the Centre of Excellence to beat the Penrith Panthers 96-70 to make it nine wins in-a-row.
With more players available, the Centre of Excellence are getting more and more impressive as the NBL1 East season rolls on as they produced a dominant display on Saturday against the Panthers at Penrith Valley Regional Sports Centre.
While the CoE came into the game having won eight straight, Penrith had lost seven in-a-row but the Panthers had done well to lead 22-21 by quarter-time.
Penrith ended up leading by as much as six points in the second period as well but by half-time the Basketball Australia emerging stars had assumed the 43-40 advantage.
It was still just an eight-point lead for the CoE by three quarter-time, but they blew the game apart in the last quarter with 28 points to 10 to see them secure the 26-point victory.
The Centre of Excellence are now 10-3 on the season with nine straight wins with Kye Savage top-scoring with 15 points, five rebounds and two assists.
But it was the evenness across the board that was key for the CoE with Oscar Goodman making 3/4 from deep for 14 points, six rebounds and two steals with Jacob Furphy contributing 14 points, six boards and two assists.
Emmett Adair also had 13 points and six rebounds, Dash Daniels eight points and four boards, and Luke Fennell seven points and four assists.
Penrith has now lost eight in-a-row with a 1-11 record with Zeke Evans finishing with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists, Ben Kearins 11 points, five boards and five assists, Josh Kalwy 10 points, eight rebounds and three assists, and Jack McWilliams 10 points and seven boards.
The Panthers will be on the road to the Hills Hornets on Sunday with the Centre of Excellence having a double against Canberra next Thursday and Friday night.
PENRITH PANTHERS 70 (Kearins 11, Evans 11, Kalwy 10, McWilliams 10)
CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE 96 (Savage 15, Furphy 14, Goodman 14)
Inner West Bulls (128) defeated Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders (87)
The Inner West Bulls unleashed their firepower on the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders at home on Saturday night for the 128-87 victory.
The Bulls were back home at ELS Hall Park attempting to bounce back from losses to the top two teams Maitland and Canberra while the Spiders arrived still hunting that elusive first win of 2024.
It wasn’t going to come their way on this night but they did their best to stick with the home team in the first quarter with Inner West leading 31-23 by the end of one.
The Bulls then blew the game wide open in the second frame with 38 points to 12 to go into the main interval on top 69-35.
The lead got out to as much as 43 points in the second half as well with Inner West ending up winning by 41 to improve to a 9-5 record on the season.
The Bulls ended up shooting a stunning 62.8 per cent from the field with 13/24 from three-point range while having five players scoring at least 17 points.
It was Alex Higgins-Titsha ended up as leading scorer with 24 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals on 11/16 shooting from the field.
Jacob Ohmer added 22 points and five assists, Ramon Cao 20 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots, Tony Tolovae 17 points, seven boards and two blocks, Zach Hudson 17 points, six rebounds and three assists, and Jonni Mei-Edwards went 3/3 from deep for nine points and four assists.
Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai are now 0-14 with their heaviest defeat of 2024 despite Brian Ansuh-Yeboah scoring 24 points on 6/10 shooting from the floor and 10/11 at the foul line.
Steven Hall added 20 points and three rebounds, and Aaron Redhead 12 points, six boards, two assists and two steals.
Inner West will next be on the road to the Canberra Gunners on Saturday June 15 with Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai to play the Centre of Excellence on that same afternoon.
INNER WEST BULLS 128 (Higgins-Titsha 24, Ohmer 22, Cao 20)
HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 87 (Ansuh-Yeboah 24, Hall 20, Redhead 12)
Central Coast Crusaders (97) lost to Albury-Wodonga Bandits (101)
A massive offensive rebound and putback from Shawn Montague proved massive in the Albury-Wodonga Bandits overcoming the Central Coast Crusaders 101-97 in a tight affair.
It was always going to come down to who executed down the stretch in an entertaining Saturday afternoon affair at Breakers Indoor Sports Stadium.
The scores were all tied at 20-20 by quarter-time before Central Coast took over in the second period with 28 points to 18 to go into the half-time break with the 48-38 advantage.
It was then a monstrous third quarter performance from the Bandits as they piled on 41 points to turn that 10-point deficit at the half into their own 11-point lead in the fourth quarter, but the Crusaders responded to set up the grandstand finish.
A triple from Chan Nai with 1:30 to play gave Central Coast the three-point lead but 30 seconds later it was Kevion Blaylock responding in kind for Albury-Wodonga to level scores back up.
Ultimately, Davo Hickey was winding down the clock but his three ball was well off the mark. Eventually the offensive board landed with Shawn Montague who put it back to put the Bandits back up two.
The Crusaders had a chance out of a timeout but a poor possession led to a rushed and off balance three from Robbie Heath.
The Bandits did keep the door ajar for the Crusaders with some missed free-throws, but a poor pass in the last second from Ben Stevens sailed out of bounds and Albury-Wodonga won by four.
The Bandits improve to 9-4 on the season with the win with Davo Hickey finishing with another 26 points, nine assists, eight rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots.
Kevion Blaylock also had 20 points, eight boards and four assists, Lochlan Cummings 15 points, five rebounds and four assists, Mitchell Dance 12 points, seven boards and three assists, and Shawn Montague 12 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Central Coast slips to 3-9 with the defeat despite 25 points, seven rebounds and five assists from Theus Evan Wardlow.
Ben Stevens added 20 points, 13 rebounds, two assists and two steals, Chan Nai 18 points on 6/9 three-point shooting, and Robbie Heath 10 points and seven boards on just 2/14 shooting.
The Bandits stay on the road on Sunday afternoon to take on Manly Warringah Sea Eagles with the Crusaders back at home to take on the Sutherland Sharks.
CENTRAL COAST CRUSADERS 97 (Wardlow 25, Stevens 20, Nai 18)
ALBURY-WODONGA BANDITS 101 (Hickey 26, Blaylock 20, Cummings 15)
