Featured images: Viesther Rex Bergas | @capturedbyrekz
It was a pair of Friday night wins for the Centre of Excellence in the NBL1 East over Canberra with Sienna Harvey starring for the women and Jacob Furphy the standout for the men.
The two teams did battle for the second time inside 24 hours and it was the Centre of Excellence women defeating the Canberra Nationals 92-72 before the CoE men also defeated the Canberra Gunners 85-76.
RECAP NBL1 EAST | HERITAGE ROUND SUNDAY
WOMEN
Canberra Nationals (72) lost to Centre of Excellence (92)
The Centre of Excellence made it a second win over the Canberra Nationals inside 24 hours with Sienna Harvey starring in the 92-72 Friday night victory.
The two teams also did battle on Thursday evening at the AIS Basketball and Netball Centre and in that encounter it was an 87-82 win over the Centre of Excellence on the back of 35 points and eight three-pointers from Monique Bobongie.
The two teams backed it up again on Friday night, this time at Belconnen Basketball Stadium and again it was the Centre of Excellence getting on top to lead by eight points at quarter-time.
The CoE added another 19 points to 13 in the second period and that saw the Basketball Australia rising stars going into the main break leading 43-29.
Another 30 points to 19 in the fourth quarter saw the lead for the Centre of Excellence land at 20 by the final buzzer as they made it two wins inside 24 hours against the Nationals to improve to a 9-6 record on the season.
Sienna Harvey starred in the win for the CoE finishing with 27 points, 11 rebounds and five assists on 11/19 shooting from the floor and 5/7 at the foul line.
Thursday night's hero Monique Bobongie put up another 20 points, nine rebounds and five assists with 4/11 three-point shooting while Zara Russell contributed 11 points and four boards, and Jade Crook nine points, four rebounds and two assists.
Canberra is now 5-10 on the season on the back of the back-to-back losses to the CoE despite Callie Bourne delivering 27 points and seven rebounds with 11/16 shooting from the field.
Amelia Motz added 14 points, nine rebounds and three assists, Maddison Penn 12 points and five boards, and Lizzy Tonks 12 points, three assists and two rebounds.
Canberra will next be in action next Saturday at home to the Inner West Bulls with the Centre of Excellence also to be hosting the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders.
CANBERRA NATIONALS 72 (Bourne 27, Motz 14, Penn 12, Tonks 12)
CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE 92 (Harvey 27, Bobongie 20, Russell 11)
MEN
Canberra Gunners (76) lost to Centre of Excellence (85)
The Centre of Excellence squared the ledger this week with the Canberra Gunners hitting back from the Thursday night loss with the 85-76 victory on Friday.
The two teams locked horns on Thursday at AIS Basketball and Netball Centre and it was a dominant 99-68 win for Canberra which saw the Gunners secure a 12th consecutive victory on the season with Lachlan Smith top-scoring with 20 points with eight players scoring seven points or more.
That meant the challenge was on the Centre of Excellence to see if they could respond 24 hours later at Belconnen Basketball Stadium in the return encounter.
The challenge was then even more significant for the CoE when Canberra started strongly once more on the hunt of a 13th straight win to be leading 29-18 by quarter-time.
The lead for the Gunners got out to as much as 13 points in the second quarter as well before the Centre of Excellence were able to work back into the contest by going on an 8-0 scoring run.
By half-time, the lead for Canberra was back to 49-43 and then the CoE took charge throughout the second half by outscoring the Gunners 22 points to 17 in the third period, and then 20 to 10 in the fourth.
That saw the Centre of Excellence score the nine-point victory to improve to an 11-4 record on the season and earn a measure of revenge for Canberra ending its nine-game winning streak on Thursday.
Jacob Furphy starred for the CoE in the win finishing with 24 points, 11 rebounds and four assists on 11/20 shooting from the floor.
Kye Savage added 15 points, three rebounds and three assists, Che Brogan nine points, eight boards and seven assists, Emmett Adair nine points, three rebounds and two blocks, and Julius Halaifonua nine points, four boards and two blocks.
Canberra's 12-game winning run ended with the defeat with Will Mayfield producing another 24 points, four assists and three rebounds.
Cameron Pender also had 13 points and seven rebounds, Glenn Morison 11 points and eight boards, and Austin Clarke nine points on 2/3 three-point shooting.
Canberra will next be in action next Saturday at home to the Inner West Bulls with the Centre of Excellence also to be hosting the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders.
CANBERRA GUNNERS 76 (Mayfield 24, Pender 13, Morison 11)
CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE 85 (Furphy 24, Savage 15, Halaifonua 9, Adair 9, Brogan 9)
