East Recap | Round 5 Sunday

Image credit: @DiscoveryOne_Photography (Greg Francis)

It was a pair of Sunday wins in the NBL1 East for the Centre of Excellence over the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders with the women winning big and men claiming the thriller.

EAST RECAP | ROUND 5 SATURDAY

WOMEN

Centre of Excellence (95) defeated Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders (77)

The Centre of Excellence produced another strong all-round performance for the 95-77 Sunday win at home over the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders.

The CoE had a pair of wins in their return to action last weekend against the Canberra Nationals and Penrith Panthers before then starting their double-header this weekend beating the Albury-Wodonga Bandits on the road.

They were back home on Sunday at the Australian Institute of Sport taking on a Spiders team looking to bounce back from the loss also on Saturday in Canberra against the Nationals by a solitary point.

Not only were the young guns from the CoE on show but so was 17-year-old star Jessie-May Hall for Hornsby and it was the Spiders with the narrow 19-18 lead by quarter-time.

Things remained tight with Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai still leading 38-37 at half-time with both teams struggling shooting from deep with the Spiders going 2/14 and the CoE 3/14.

It was then in the third quarter that the Centre of Excellence blew the game completely open with 35 points to 19 on the back of hitting 5/10 from downtown to be in control at 72-57 by three quarter-time.

The lead got out to as much as 22 points as well in the last quarter for the CoE before they went on to secure the 18-point victory to improve to a 5-1 record on the season.

Sophie Taylor led the charge for the Centre of Excellence with 22 points, six rebounds and three steals while going 5/14 from three-point territory.

Sitaya Fagan produced another 18 points, 12 rebounds, three blocks and two assists with Zara Russell adding 18 points, nine boards and five assists, Emilija Dakic 17 points, six assists and five rebounds, and Isabel Smith 12 points, eight boards and four assists.

The Spiders are now 3-3 after their pair of losses in Canberra this weekend with Jessie-May Hall providing another 24 points, seven steals, four rebounds and four assists.

Keira Hudson also had 23 points and two assists with 5/10 three-point shooting, Lucy Mead nine points, four assists and three boards, and Nicole Hutchins six points and seven rebounds.

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE 95 (Taylor 22, Fagan 18, Russell 18)

HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 77 (Hall 24, Hudson 23, Mead 9)

MEN

Centre of Excellence (79) defeated Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders (76)

No more than nine points ever separated the two teams and the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders almost snatched it late before Roor Akhuar hit the game winning three-pointer as the Centre of Excellence prevailed 79-76.

The Centre of Excellence scored a thumping 41-point win on the road to the Albury-Wodonga Bandits to begin their double-header this weekend while the Spiders started their trip to Canberra with the 41-point loss against the Gunners.

So the two teams couldn’t have possibly come into Sunday's match up at the Australian Institute of Sport with more differing form from the previous day, but it didn't stop them taking part in a thrilling contest for 40 minutes.

It turned out to be a fascinating contest and even though the Centre of Excellence opened up a nine-point lead in the first quarter, Hornsby had the deficit back to just one by quarter-time.

The CoE got to the foul line 13 times in the second term to make up for shooting 4/13 from the field and they opened up a 37-32 lead by half-time with the Spiders managing just the 5/16 shooting in that term.

The Centre of Excellence maintained a narrow lead through most of the second half but Hornsby did briefly grab the lead with 3:30 to play when Mohamed Kone knocked down a three-pointer.

Roor Akhuar responded with his own three-pointer for the CoE but then Akil Douglas returned the Spiders to the lead, and eventually it was a triple with time running out from Akhuar that broke the deadlock to give the Centre of Excellence the three-point win with the shot at the death.

With the victory, the Centre of Excellence improve to a 5-1 record on the season with the pair of wins this weekend with Roor Akhuar not only hitting the game winner but making 4/5 from downtown on his way to 17 points and six rebounds.

Mading Kuany added 12 points and five rebounds, Jai Faale eight points and two boards, Flynn Pavely six points and five rebounds, Marcus Vaughns six points and seven boards, and Sebastien Emenalo six points and three steals.

Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai are now 0-6 still chasing that elusive first win of the season despite the encouraging performance with Brian Ansuh-Yeboah finishing with 15 points, three rebounds and two steals on 3/6 three-point shooting.

Daniel Titus also had 15 points, seven rebounds and two assists with 3/3 from behind the three-point arc with Akil Douglas delivering 12 points and three boards, and Mohamed Kone 10 points, four rebounds and four steals.

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE 79 (Akhuar 17, Kuany 12, Faale 8)

HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 76 (Ansuh-Yeboah 15, Titus 15, Douglas 12)