NBL1 East Recap | Round 14 Sunday

There was just one game apiece in the women's and men's Sunday NBL1 East action with the Centre of Excellence women making it a double win weekend while Isaac Ayoubi hit the game winner as the Sydney Comets broke their drought against the Central Coast Crusaders.

The lone Sunday women's fixture to conclude Round 14 in the NBL1 East saw the Centre of Excellence defeat the Hills Hornets 96-37.

The only men's match then saw the Sydney Comets claim the thriller 85-83 against the Central Coast Crusaders.

NBL1 EAST RECAP | SATURDAY ROUND 14

WOMEN

Centre of Excellence too powerful for Hornets 

The Centre of Excellence put themselves back in the NBL1 East finals race with a dominant 96-37 victory against the Hills Hornets at Hills Basketball Stadium on Sunday.

After having won 13 of their opening 15 matches in the NBL1 East season, the Centre of Excellence had lost four consecutive matches before a steadying win over the Sydney Comets on Saturday night to open Round 14.

They then headed into Sunday's match up with a Hornets team fresh off their third win of 2023 on Saturday against the Penrith Panthers.

It didn’t take long for the CoE to take control of the contest away from home with 26 points to 10 in the opening period.

That lead grew out to 29 points in the second quarter and at the long break it was the Basketball Australia young guns on top of the Hornets 48-19.

It was more of the same in the second half with the Centre of Excellence outscoring the Hornets 48 points to 18 on the way to the eventual 59-point victory.

The victory improves the CoE to a 15-6 record with the consecutive wins again while the Hornets are 3-14 unable to win consecutive games for the first time in 2023.

There were once again plenty of strong contributors in the win for the Centre of Excellence with Lara Somfai putting up 18 points and six rebounds.

Jayda Clark added 17 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals, Sienna Harvey 14 points, three boards and three assists, Isla Juffermans 13 points and seven rebounds, Monique Bobongie 12 points, six boards and six steals, and Saffron Shiels nine points, six rebounds and three assists.

Rhiannon Yetsenga top-scored for Hills with 13 points and nine rebounds with Taylah Cottees contributing nine points, four boards and two assists, and Kelsey Curtin seven points and two assists.

17-year-old @UCCapitals recruit Jayda Clark put in a big shift to guide the Centre of Excellence to a ???? victory, posting:

1??7?? points
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2?? steals

Watch #NBL1East via https://t.co/NEk1I7kIKG
or the NBL1 App ? & ? pic.twitter.com/wCceNUFAug

— NBL1 (@NBL1) June 25, 2023

MEN

Ayoubi with the game winner for Comets over Crusaders

Isaac Ayoubi got to live out every basketballer's dream by hitting the game winner as time expired when he made a pretty jump shot to deliver the Sydney Comets the 85-83 victory against the Central Coast Crusaders.

The Comets were hosting the Crusaders with both teams on significant losing streaks so one team was always going to celebrate by the end of the afternoon and it was only fitting it was a thrilling contest.

Central Coast did fall to an 11th straight loss on Saturday at the hands of the Maitland Mustangs but they started impressively on Sunday opening up an early 12-point lead.

ISAAC AYOUBI HITS THE GAME-WINNING BUZZER BEATER FOR THE COMETS! ?

That. Is. ?????? ?

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The Crusaders were still 10 points up during the second quarter but the Comets were able to fight back, and then even grab the lead themselves in the third stanza.

The lead then continued to switch hands the rest of the way and it was Central Coast leading by three with a minute to play.

That's when it became Isaac Ayoubi time for the Comets. He firstly drained a three-pointer to level scores up and then made a nice play with time running to find his spot inside the arc. He rose for the jump shot and it never looked like missing.

That put the Comets two points in front and time expired just after with no chance for the Crusaders to respond as Sydney snapped an eight-game losing streak while giving Central Coast the 12th consecutive defeat.

Archer Woodhill came up huge for the Comets in the drought breaking victory with 29 points and 14 rebounds on shooting 11/19 from the floor, 2/3 from beyond the arc and 5/8 from the foul line.

Wani Swaka Lo Buluk added 22 points, three rebounds and three assists, Isaac Ayoubi 11 points, and Matthew Wacher seven points, eight assists, three rebounds and three steals.

Aaron Redhead did all he could to lift Central Coast to the win finishing with 34 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and two blocks on 10/19 shooting from the field, 2/4 from three-point range and 12/14 at the free-throw line.

Luke Cassidy added 11 points, four assists, three steals and two rebounds, and Aaron Lawton 11 points, eight boards, eight assists and three steals.

Don't even ??? to get past James Trustum ?

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