NBL1 East Recap | Friday Men's Round 17

Two of the NBL1 East's top teams did battle on Friday night with the Maitland Mustangs sending a message in their eventual one-point win on the road to the Canberra Gunners.

Canberra did appear to have a hold on top spot in the NBL1 East Men's competition entering the last two rounds of the regular season, but Friday night's result threw a spanner in those works.

The Mustangs ended up scoring the 91-90 victory which sees Maitland improve to a 12-7 record on the season in third position in the standings while the Gunners are still first but their gap has lessened with them 14-6.

James Hunter finished the night with 24 points and eight rebounds including two dagger late three-pointers for the Mustangs.

Will Mayfield finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds for Canberra with Glenn Morison adding 14 points and 13 boards.

Round 17 in the NBL1 East will continue on Saturday afternoon at 5pm with the Bankstown Bruins taking on the Maitland Mustangs.

Then at 6pm, the Canberra Nationals are backing up to host the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles before at 7pm the Sutherland Sharks are at home to the Albury-Wodonga Bandits.

The Hills Hornets and Central Coast Crusaders are then doing battle from 7.30pm as will the Illawarra Hawks and Norths Bears.

The Illawarra Hawks then back up on Sunday at 3pm to take on the visiting Albury-Wodonga Bandits while the Newcastle Falcons will host the Bankstown Bruins.

NBL1 EAST – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 17 – FRIDAY NIGHT

CANBERRA GUNNERS 90 lost to MAITLAND MUSTANGS 91

The Maitland Mustangs came away with the one-point win away from home on Friday night in the NBL1 East to keep things interesting on top of the table.

Coming into the second last round of the regular season in the NBL1 East, the Gunners were clear on top of the standings ahead of hosting the third placed Mustangs at Southern Cross Basketball Stadium in Tuggeranong.

Despite Maitland leading by nine points during the first quarter, scores were all tied by quarter-time before the Mustangs pulled away further in the second term.

Even though Will Mayfield and Akech Aliir threw down big dunks for Canberra and let their opponents know about it, it only served to motivate the Mustangs further and they put up 30 points to 14 in the second term.

That saw the visitors head into the half-time break in control leading the league-leaders 48-32.

Maitland kept that momentum rolling throughout the third quarter scoring another five straight points to end up leading by as much as 17.

The advantage was still 15 early in the fourth quarter but Canberra were able to work back into the contest to give themselves a sniff late of what would have been a remarkable comeback win.

When Shaun Mills hit a three with three minutes to play the Gunners were back within five and then a turnaround jumper from Mayfield made the margin three.

Maitland appeared to do enough to steady when back out to a seven-point lead after consecutive three-pointers from James Hunter, but the drama wasn’t quite over yet.

James Toohey hit from deep for Canberra to bring his team back within four and then after two Will Cranston-Lown free-throws, Dhal Fieg hit from deep for the Gunners and it was a three-point margin.

Cranston-Lown then missed two free-throws but Canberra couldn’t take advantage with eventually the Mustangs back out by five after a couple of shots at the line.

Toohey gave Canberra one last sniff, though, with another three late to make it a two-point game and they were able to force the turnover to have the last possession to go for the win or to force overtime.

In the end, Glenn Morison took the ball hard to the rim and was fouled hard. He couldn’t take his free-throws and instead Max Cooper came off the bench to take them. He only made one and the Mustangs held on to win 91-90.

James Hunter finished the night with 24 points and eight rebounds for Maitland with Matthew Gray contributing 19 points and five boards, Will Cranston-Lown 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and Sharif Watson 10 points and four boards.

Will Mayfield ended up with 21 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists for Canberra with James Toohey contributing 17 points and three boards, Glenn Morison 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Akech Aliir 14 points, five boards, three assists, three steals and two blocks.