NBL1 East Recap | Saturday Men's Round 18

There were Saturday wins in the NBL1 East in the last round of the regular season for the Inner West Bulls, Canberra Gunners, Maitland Mustangs, Sutherland Sharks, Albury-Wodonga Bandits and Newcastle Falcons.

The Saturday Round 18 NBL1 East action got underway with the Inner West Bulls producing a massive last quarter to come from behind to beat the Bankstown Bruins 95-87.

Alex Higgins-Titsha was superb for the Bulls with 28 points and 15 rebounds while Chier Maker added 20 points and five boards. Lachlan Anderson put up 23 points and eight rebounds for Bankstown, and Nathaniel Brown 21 points, nine boards and four assists.

It was a thrilling and dramatic finish at Breakers Indoor Sports Stadium with the Canberra Gunners ending up defeating the Central Coast Crusaders 79-77.

Glenn Morison finished with 17 points for Canberra, Akech Aliir 16 and Dhal Fieg 16. Aaron Redhead delivered 26 points and 16 rebounds for Central Coast.

The Maitland Mustangs held out the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles for the 90-84 victory on their home court.

Billy Parsons stepped up for 18 points and eight rebounds for Maitland with Sharif Watson adding 18 points and seven boards. Indiana Faithful was terrific again for the Sea Eagles finishing with 30 points and seven rebounds.

It was another thriller at Sutherland Basketball Stadium with the Illawarra Hawks scoring the 94-90 road win over the Sutherland Sharks.

Tim Coenraad used all of his 350 games of NBL experience to deliver 34 points and 10 rebounds while Kiwi Gardner strengthened his MVP claims with 31 points, six rebounds, five assists and five steals.

Geoff Gerlach delivered 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Sharks.

The Hills Hornets finished their season in some strong form with another impressive win on Saturday, beating the Albury-Wodonga Bandits 99-82.

Lachlan Charlton produced 19 points for the Hornets while Jayden Prakash top-scored with 21 points along with eight rebounds. 

Lochlan Cummings delivered a superb performance to finish his season with Albury-Wodonga by delivering 38 points, seven rebounds and six assists while hitting eight triples.

The Newcastle Falcons just about broke the hearts of the Norths Bears by winning 93-72 at home on Saturday night. 

Newcastle still have to beat the Sutherland Sharks on Sunday but they all but ended the top four aspirations of the Bears with the victory.

Myles Cherry top-scored for the Falcons with 25 points and 14 rebounds while Patrick Sanders put up 25 points for the Bears and Iggy Mitchell had 14 points and 11 boards.

The regular season in the NBL1 East will now wrap up on Sunday with the Central Coast Crusaders at home to the Inner West Bulls while the Sutherland Sharks play the Newcastle Falcons, and the Maitland Mustangs play host to the Illawarra Hawks.

NBL1 EAST – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 18 – SATURDAY 

INNER WEST BULLS 95 defeated BANKSTOWN BRUINS 87

CENTRAL COAST CRUSADERS 77 lost to CANBERRA GUNNERS 79

MAITLAND MUSTANGS 90 defeated MANLY-WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 84

NEWCASTLE FALCONS 93 defeated NORTHS BEARS 72

SUTHERLAND SHARKS 90 lost to ILLAWARRA HAWKS 94

ALBURY-WODONGA BANDITS 82 lost to HILLS HORNETS 99