Despite the absence of three players key to their NBL1 North championship, the Mackay Meteors are still a chance to send off coach Joel Khalu with a National Finals triumph with Saturday's 95-80 victory against the Forestville Eagles.
The Meteors secured their NBL1 North championship two weeks ago with the two-nil Grand Final win against the Brisbane Capitals to book their place at the National Finals on the Sunshine Coast.
Mackay would have to do it without NBL trio Todd Blanchfield, Isaac White and Luca Yates, though, and that didn’t prove an obstacle with Friday's 93-82 win over the NBL1 West champion Mandurah Magic.
That put the Meteors into a match up with Forestville on Saturday at UniSC Arena with the Eagles still playing off for a spot in Sunday's championship game despite a six-point loss to the Eltham Wildcats on Friday.
Forestville did add 417-game NBL great Daniel Johnson into the line-up for the Saturday match up too to only add extra intrigue to the contest for a spot against Knox on Sunday for the National Championship.
RECAP FRIDAY NBL1 NATIONAL FINALS | MACKAY V MANDURAH
RECAP FRIDAY NBL1 NATIONAL FINALS | FORESTVILLE V ELTHAM
RECAP FRIDAY NBL1 NATIONAL FINALS | MAITLAND V KNOX
It was a high-scoring and exciting opening to the contest with the two teams combining for 57 points in the first quarter and by quarter-time it was Mackay holding the 29-28 advantage.
The tempo of the contest didn’t drop away in the second term, but Mackay getting Forestville gun big man Greg Mays in foul trouble was proving crucial.
The Meteors also went on a 14-0 scoring run during the second period and on the back of that turned a seven-point deficit into a seven-point lead.
Mackay then went into the half-time break with a 51-47 advantage but the Eagles still weren’t going away and even took the lead midway through the third quarter thanks to an and-one play from Adam Doyle.
Daniel Johnson then stretched that lead out to three but Mackay again responded and just before three quarter-time were back out to a double-figure advantage thanks to the three-point play from Emmett Naar.
The Meteors were then still up seven by three quarter-time and then took further control in the final period with 19 points to 11 on the way to the 15-point win to lock away a stirring run into the decider against Knox with the chance to provide coach Joel Khalu with the dream finish.
In the absence of Todd Blanchfield and Luca Yates who at the same time were playing with the Illawarra Hawks to start their NBL pre-season campaigns against the Shanghai Sharks, and Isaac White who was with the team but not suited up, the Meteors had plenty of players stepping up.
Amarco Doyle had a monster game with 26 points and six rebounds on 10/15 shooting from the field while Emmett Naar backed up his triple-double from Friday against Mandurah with another 18 points, 13 assists, five rebounds and five steals.
Aiden Krause also provided 14 points, 14 rebounds and three steals in the win for Mackay while Jerron Jamerson ended up with 12 points and three boards, and Kye Medhurst 13 points and four rebounds.
Naar has now had 31 points, 26 assists and 15 rebounds over the two games on the Sunshine Coast, and is enjoying his time with different players stepping up.
"I'm real proud of the team and obviously we're missing three key guys, but we're a deep team and it's an opportunity for guys to step up. Guys off the bench like Kye Medhurst and Amarco Doyle have been great for us," Naar said.
"We know Knox have great players and are a great team, and I'm sure coming off the championship last year, they will be looking to defend it. We'll get a good scout on them and see how we go."
Daniel Johnson arrived in Queensland on Saturday morning to join his Forestville team and did all he could to lift them into the championship game with 32 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals on 13/22 shooting from the field.
While Johnson came up big, foul trouble that limited Grand Final MVP Greg Mays to just over 12 minutes for the game and only nine points and three rebounds didn’t help matters for the Eagles.
Uche Dibiamaka also had 17 points and two rebounds for Forestville with Brad Rathjen contributing nine points and four assists, and Adam Doyle five points and five assists.
MACKAY METEORS 95 (Doyle 26, Naar 18, Krause 14)
FORESTVILLE EAGLES 80 (Johnson 32, Dibiamaka 19, Mays 9)
For further information on the official destination of the National Finals, head to www.visitsunshinecoast.com
