Frankston Blues NBL1 South 2023 Round 7 Recap

Bibby, Cocks lift Blues over Raiders

The Frankston Blues joined the Knox Raiders on seven wins this NBL1 South season on the back of the 80-69 victory at the State Basketball Centre.

Micaela Cocks and Chloe Bibby delivered spectacular performances for the Blues to ultimately lead them to the important victory to strengthen their top four push.

Frankston managed to lead by seven points at quarter-time but Knox kept things close with the Blues lead down to just three at half-time.

Frankston was just clinging to a four-point edge at three quarter-time, but the Blues then delivered 19 points to 12 in the fourth quarter to end up winning by 11 points.

The victory improves Frankston to 7-4 on the season while with the loss Knox is now 7-4 with consecutive losses.

Chloe Bibby produced 24 points, five rebounds and three assists in the win for the Blues on 8/14 shooting from the field and 7/7 at the foul line. Micaela Cocks added 23 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists with 3/4 three-point shooting.

Alicia Froling finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and two blocks for Knox while Leah Santomaggio added 14 points with 3/6 three-point shooting, and Aneta Bandilovska 10 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Feagin shoots Raiders to OT win over Blues

It was an overtime cracking contest at the State Basketball Centre in the first versus third battle in and it was the Knox Raiders who delivered when it mattered most for the 87-78 win over the Frankston Blues.

Knox played host to Frankston with the Raiders having won five straight in third place while the Blues were on top of the NBL1 South having won their last three.

The Raiders started well to lead by 10 points during the first quarter and with the lead growing to 11 in the second before they were still clinging to a 36-32 advantage at half-time.

You couldn’t help but think the game was destined to go down to the wire and it did, but it was the Blues leading by six with six minutes to play after a bucket to Lachlan Barker.

They were still up six when Lucas Barker scored almost a minute later but stuck with it Ke'Jhan Feagin and he scored five quick points for Knox to put the home team back up by a point with three minutes to play.

Brad Newley restored the lead for Frankston but ultimately it was a spectacular driving layup finish from Bailey Nunn that bounced all round the rim that tied scores up, and sent the game to overtime.

Then in the extra period, it was Feagin again who blew the game wide open starting with a three-pointer and then another jumper to stretch the lead to eight, and from there it was Knox going on to win by nine.

Ke'Jhan Feagin finished with a spectacular night for the Raiders going for 30 points, seven rebounds and four assists on 11/21 shooting from the floor, 5/11 from three-point range and 3/3 at the foul line.

Madut Akec added 13 points and four boards, Wayne Stewart Jr 17 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and three assists, and Mason Peatling five points and 15 boards.

The five Frankston starters were exhausted by the end of the 45 minutes with all of them playing at least 36 minutes with no player off the bench scoring, grabbing a rebound or playing 10 minutes.

Lachlan Barker top-scored for the Blues with 19 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals with Daniel Trist contributing 17 points, 11 boards and three steals, Lucas Barker 14 points and 10 rebounds, Brad Newley 14 points and three boards, and Igor Hadziomerovic 14 points and five rebounds.