NBL1 East Recap | Saturday Men's Elimination Finals

The Illawarra Hawks and Sutherland Sharks continued their NBL1 East Men's seasons by at least another week with elimination final victories on Saturday night.

The opening weekend of the finals in the NBL1 East Men's competition featured the two elimination finals to determine who would join the Canberra Gunners and Maitland Mustangs in the semi finals.

With their semi-final opponents sitting back and waiting having earned the first week off after finishing in the top two positions, the other four NBL1 East qualified teams locked horns in the elimination finals on Saturday.

That saw the Sutherland Sharks put in a terrific performance away from home to defeat the Newcastle Falcons 96-78.

Lochlan Hutchinson produced 26 points for the Sharks, Adrian Cabrera 24, Callum Norris 14 and Geoff Gerlach 13.

Ryan Beisty finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds for Newcastle in the loss.

The Illawarra Hawks then dominated the second half at The Snakepit in the other elimination final on Saturday night to beat the Norths Bears 94-82.

Tim Coenraad used all his 350 games of NBL experience to inspire the Hawks with 27 points, eight rebounds and three assists with Harry Morris adding 18 points, five assists and four rebounds.

Iggy Mitchell put up 21 points and eight rebounds for the Bears with Patrick Sanders adding 19 points and Anatoly Bose 18.

The semi finals will now take place next Saturday between the Gunners and Hawks, and Mustangs and Sharks to determine who plays in the NBL1 East Grand Final for 2022 on Sunday August 28.

NBL1 EAST – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
ELIMINATION FINALS – SATURDAY 

NEWCASTLE FALCONS 78 lost to SUTHERLAND SHARKS 96 

The Sutherland Sharks hit the road on Saturday night and delivered quite the impressive performance to beat the Newcastle Falcons and keep their season alive in the NBL1 East Men.

The Falcons ended the regular season with a 14-8 record in third position to earn home court advantage for the elimination final against a Sharks team who finished sixth at 11-11.

Then at Newcastle Basketball Stadium on Saturday night it was the home team who got the better of the start to finish the first quarter on a 5-0 run to take a 25-21 lead into quarter-time.

However, Sutherland took over in the second term by putting on 10 consecutive points to lead by double-digits and to go into half-time leading 41-36.

That meant that the Falcons were still within striking distance at half-time but the Sharks maintained that double-figure example in the third term and then pulled away further in the fourth.

The Sharks lead grew to as much as 21 points and they went on to win on the road 96-78 to advance to a semi-final against the Maitland Mustangs.

It was an impressive shooting performance from Sutherland especially from beyond the arc as they went 14/27 at 51.9 per cent on the way to the big road win.

Lochlan Hutchison finished with 26 points, four steals, three assists and three rebounds for the Sharks while Adrian Cabrera contributed 24 points, six boards and three steals.

Callum Norris added 14 points and Geoff Gerlach 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

Ryan Beisty top-scored for Newcastle with 18 points and 11 rebounds with Matur Maluach adding 16 points, six rebounds and three blocks, Jaidyn Goodwin 11 points, three assists and three steals, and Tom Dawson 10 points and 11 rebounds.

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 94 defeated NORTHS BEARS 82

The Illawarra Hawks were able to shake off a slow start to finish strongly at home and beat the Norths Bears in Saturday night's elimination final to keep their season alive.

The NBL1 East elimination final took place at The Snakepit with the seasons of the Hawks and Bears going on the line with a spot in the semi finals next week against the Canberra Gunners going on the line.

The Hawks earned the hosting rights by finishing the regular season in fourth position at 14-8 while the Bears were just a game back at 13-9 in fifth position so not much had separated the two teams throughout 2022 in the NBL1 East.

It was the Bears who got the better of the start away from home as they finished the first quarter scoring 10 consecutive points to lead 25-17 by quarter-time.

The visitors were able to build on that early in the second term to lead by as much as 17 and then to still be on top 50-41 going into half-time.

The Hawks had to dig deep if they wanted to avoid their season ending with a loss on their home floor and they were able to get rolling in the third quarter by outscoring the Bears 27 points to 17 to nab the lead.

Illawarra kept that momentum going in the fourth quarter too with another 26 points to 15 to end up winning 94-82 and to set up a semi-final match with Canberra with a spot in the Grand Final on the line.

Not a whole lot separated the teams in most areas but the Hawks were able to get on top thanks to their three-point shooting ultimately. They went at 14/39 at 35.9 per cent from downtown for the night opposed to 2/15 at 13.3 per cent from the Bears.

Tim Coenraad showed that there is plenty left in his 350-game NBL legs by playing mitch-winner for Illawarra with 27 points, eight rebounds and three assists while hitting 5/10 from three-point land.

Harry Morris also went 4/8 from deep for 18 points, five assists and four rebounds with Patrick Lancaster adding 13 points and four boards, Sam Giles 10 points and four rebounds, and Kiwi Gardner 10 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals.

Iggy Mitchell finished up top-scoring for the Bears with 21 points and eight rebounds while Patrick Sanders finished the season with another 19 points, four boards, three steals and two blocked shots.

One-time Sydney King Anatoly Bose added 18 points and eight rebounds with Michael Golding contributing 15 points, nine boards and four steals.