NBL1 East Recap | Sunday Round 10

Will Cranston-Lown ensured the Maitland Mustangs broke the hearts of Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai once again in Sunday's NBL1 East action while Shyla Heal and Lauren Nicholson combined for 84 in their match up, and Ben Henshall and Tim Coenraad for 69 in theirs.

Sunday's NBL1 East women's Round 10 results saw the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles beat the Bankstown Bruins 71-57 while the Centre of Excellence defeated the Illawarra Hawks 91-63, the Newcastle Falcons downed the Albury-Wodonga Bandits 80-66, the Sydney Comets beat the Sutherland Sharks 91-85, and the Maitland Mustangs won 90-48 over the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders.

The men's contests then saw Maitland beat Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai 81-79 while Bankstown defeated Manly Warringah 68-65, Centre of Excellence downed the Hawks 106-100, the Falcons beat the Bandits 95-76, and the Sharks prevailed 86-77 over the Comets. 

NBL1 EAST RECAP | SATURDAY ROUND 10

WOMEN

Mustangs dominate Spiders for 42-point win

The Maitland Mustangs bounced back from their Saturday loss to dominate the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders on the way to the 90-48 victory.

Both teams played the previous day with Hornsby losing a 12th straight match to the Centre of Excellence by 34 points while the Mustangs also went down to the Albury-Wodonga Bandits.

Maitland started on fire at Barker College with 29 points to 13 in the opening period before adding another 22 points to 14 in the second term to go into the half-time break on top 51-27.

It was more of the same in the second half with the Mustangs outscoring the Spiders 35 points to 19 on the way to the 42-point win.

The result sees Maitland improve to a 7-5 record on the season with Hornsby having now lost all 13 matches this season.

Maitland ended up shooting 45.7 per cent from the field opposed to the 21.7 per cent from Hornsby and that proved the major difference on top of the Mustangs collecting 57 rebounds to 34.

Shakera Reilly top-scored for Maitland with 19 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals with Rachel Williams contributing 16 points and seven assists, Sydney Hunter 14 points and nine rebounds, Mila Wawszkowicz 10 points, seven boards, three assists and three blocks, and Kelsey Moss nine points and 11 rebounds.

Kristina Moore top-scored for Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai with 19 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two blocks with captain Alicia Poto adding nine points and three boards.

Sea Eagles remain top with win over Bruins

The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles remain on top of the NBL1 East with 11 consecutive wins following Sunday's 71-57 victory against the Bankstown Bruins.

The Sea Eagles made it 10 straight wins with the 53-point road win to the Penrith Panthers on Saturday while Bankstown suffered the 10-point loss at home to the Newcastle Falcons.

Manly Warringah made a flying start away from home with 26 points to eight in the opening period and that set the tone for the rest of the afternoon.

The Sea Eagles' lead got out to as much as 24 points in the third quarter before they went on to score the 14-point victory to improve to 12-1 on the season with 11 consecutive wins.

The two losses this weekend for the Bruins sees them slip to 6-6 after Round 10.

Bree Delaney ended the afternoon with 22 points, six rebounds and five assists for Manly Warringah on 7/10 shooting from the floor, 2/4 from long-range and 6/8 from the free-throw line.

Kim Hodge added 12 points, seven rebounds and two blocks, Felicity Henderson 11 points, four boards, four assists and two blocks, and Alex Delaney 11 points and four rebounds.

Jurnee-A'Mour Straker put up 12 points for Bankstown with Kiahna Davis-White contributing 11 points and 11 rebounds, Violet Morrow 11 points and eight boards, and Britney Wright 10 points, eight rebounds and two steals.

Centre of Excellence win again over Illawarra

The Centre of Excellence produced another terrific all-round performance on Sunday to beat the Illawarra Hawks 91-63 at The Snakepit.

The Basketball Australia emerging stars made a flying start on the back of beating the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders by 34 points the previous day, and put up 31 points to 13 in the first quarter against the Hawks.

The Centre of Excellence went on with the job from there to lead by 20 points at half-time, 25 at three quarter-time and ending up winning by 28.

That improves the CoE to a 10-2 record on the season with four consecutive wins while Illawarra suffers its second loss of the weekend to slip to 2-10.

The most pleasing part of the Centre of Excellence performance again was the number of contributors they had with Jess Petrie finishing with 18 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Sienna Harvey added 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Isla Juffermans 17 points and two boards, Ruby Gray 13 points and four assists, and Summah Hanson 10 points and five rebounds.

Rebecca Abel finished with 11 points and two rebounds for Illawarra with Courtney Jardine delivering 11 points, four rebounds and four assists, and Emilia Garcia Leon 10 points and five boards.

Falcons make it six straight with win over Bandits

The Newcastle Falcons made it six consecutive wins by beating the defending champion Albury-Wodonga Bandits 80-66 on Sunday afternoon.

The Falcons were back home at Newcastle Basketball Stadium on the back of beating the Bankstown Bruins by 20 the previous evening while the Bandits had also defeated the Maitland Mustangs in a tight tussle.

The defending champion Albury-Wodonga started well to lead by two points at quarter-time and by half-time that advantage was out to eight.

Newcastle fired back, though, in the third quarter with 25 points to 16 and then another 26 to 13 in the fourth saw them end up winning by 14.

The victory improves the Falcons to a 10-1 record on the season with six consecutive wins while the Bandits are now 7-6 after splitting their two games in Round 10.

Mykea Gray had another strong performance for Newcastle with 21 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals with Nicole Munger adding 15 points, 13 boards and seven assists, and Abigail Curtin 14 points, six rebounds and two steals.

Kate Kingham also had 19 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals on shooting 5/9 from three-point land.

Emma Mahady delivered 27 points, five rebounds and two assists for Albury-Wodonga on the back of nailing 5/12 from three-point territory.

Mikayla Pivec also had 18 points and eight rebounds, and Ashlee Hannan nine points and 11 boards.

Comets beat Sharks with Heal going for 41, Nicholson 43

The Sydney Comets delivered a huge fourth quarter with Shyla Heal putting up 41 points in the eventual 91-85 win against the Sutherland Sharks despite the 43 points from Lauren Nicholson.

It always presented the chance to be a spectacular match up at Sutherland Basketball Stadium especially with WNBL stars Nicholson, Heal and Vanessa Panousis out there, and it certainly delivered.

The Sharks were fresh off beating the Hills Hornets by 40 points the previous evening where Nicholson had a triple-double, and she started on fire again to help her team to a double-figure lead by the second quarter.

Sutherland was still 10 points up during the second half but the Comets weren’t going to go down without a fight and it was Heal that led their dramatic fightback.

Lauren Nicholson gets the circus shot to fall! ?

She has 18 points at the half ?

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

— NBL1 (@NBL1) May 21, 2023

Sydney ended up delivering 33 points to 21 in the final quarter to overcome that 10-point deficit to end up winning by six in a spectacular afternoon.

The win improves the Comets to a 10-2 record with four straight wins while it's the end of a three-game run for the Sharks who are 8-5 after the defeat.

It was a day where the stars came to fire with Shyla Heal finishing with 41 points, seven assists and four rebounds for the Comets with 7/13 three-point shooting and going 14/16 at the charity stripe.

Jada Crawshaw added 21 points and seven rebounds, Vanessa Panousis 12 points, seven boards, four steals and three assists, and Alexandra Oliver nine points and four rebounds.

It might have been a loss but what a weekend it was for Lauren Nicholson for Sutherland. After her triple-double on Saturday, she had another 43 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals on Sunday with 13/20 field goal shooting and going 17/19 at the foul line.

Madeleine Norris added 21 points, four rebounds and two assists, and Olivia White six points, 17 boards, four assists and two steals.

Shyla Heal dominates once again ?

4??1?? Points, 7?? Assists, 7?? Triples, and the 91-85 W ?

Watch #NBL1East via https://t.co/NEk1I7kIKG or the NBL1 App ? & ? pic.twitter.com/TNZG6yps5i

— NBL1 (@NBL1) May 21, 2023

MEN

Mustangs break Spiders hearts thanks to Cranston-Lown

The Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders have suffered yet another heartbreaking loss in the search of that first NBL1 East victory, this time with the Maitland Mustangs winning 81-79.

Hornsby came into Sunday's game at Barker College having lost their first 12 matches in the NBL1 East ahead of taking on the grand finalists in Maitland from last season who were fresh off a win against Albury-Wodonga on Saturday.

The Mustangs made a dominant start opening up a 15-point lead in the first quarter before still being up 27-15 by quarter-time.

To Hornsby's credit, they hit back in the second quarter and outscored the Mustangs 24 points to 14 including a 9-0 run and that cut the Maitland lead to 41-39 at the half-time interval.

Things remained tight throughout the second half and even though Maitland pushed back out to a nine-point lead, the Spiders refused to go away and a stunning triple from Patrick Fraser with the time running down tied scores up.

However, there was still time on the clock for Maitland to avoid overtime and Luka Vea found Will Cranston-Lown in the corner and he drained the dagger long two to sink the hearts of Hornsby once more this season.

While the Spiders have lost 13 games for the season, eight of them have been by 10 points or less including four of them by a combined six points so that breakthrough victory can't be far away.

On top of hitting the game winner, Cranston-Lown delivered 19 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals for Maitland with James Hunter adding 17 points and eight boards, Luka Vea 11 points and three rebounds, and Billy Parsons eight points and 10 boards.

Patrick Fraser put up 29 points and four rebounds for Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai while nailing 6/9 from three-point territory with Shareef Saipaia adding 19 points, five boards and four assists, Ben White nine points and eight rebounds, and Daniel Garrett nine points.

William Cranston-Lown wins it for Maitland at the buzzer??

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— NBL1 (@NBL1) May 21, 2023

Bruins shake off slow start to beat Sea Eagles

The Bankstown Bruins claimed the thrilling 68-65 Sunday victory at home to the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles to close Round 10 in the NBL1 East.

Bankstown were fresh off a loss on Saturday to the Newcastle Falcons with the Sea Eagles fresh off scoring a second win of the season the previous evening by overcoming the Penrith Panthers by 12 points.

That set the stage for Sunday's clash and it was Manly Warringah who kept its momentum going with a hot start to open up a 14-point lead in the first quarter.

The Sea Eagles were still up by 12 points during the second term and by six in the third, but Bankstown then turned the tide including going on a 10-0 run to assume the lead.

The Bruins went on to lead by nine points in the fourth quarter and held firm against fast finishing Sea Eagles to secure the three-point victory.

The result improves Bankstown to a 3-9 record with Manly Warringah now 2-11 with both teams splitting their two games in Round 10.

Kobe Shannon delivered 22 points and nine rebounds in the win for the Bruins with Hayden Blankley contributing 16 points, 13 boards and four blocks, and Jack McWilliams nine points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Matthew Eldridge did what he could to lift the Sea Eagles to another win finishing with 19 points, 18 rebounds and two blocks with Mitch Evans adding 11 points and six boards, Stefan Valkovic 11 points and three rebounds, and Maxim Nesterov 10 points and three assists.

Henshall hits 34, Coenraad 35 as CoE beat Hawks

The Illawarra Hawks and Centre of Excellence put on quite the Sunday afternoon show and it was the Basketball Australia young guns who held on for the 106-100 victory.

Both teams had already won a game on Saturday in Round 10 with the Hawks beating the Sydney Comets and CoE defeating the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders.

They came into the clash in good form and both put in impressive showings throughout the afternoon with no more than eight points between them in the opening half with the Centre of Excellence leading 50-46 at the break.

The CoE then pulled away in the third quarter with 30 points to 21 and then were on top by 17 in the fourth, but the Hawks threw everything at what would have been a stunning fightback.

In the end they got back to within six at the final buzzer but the Centre of Excellence held firm to improve to 11-1 on the season. Illawarra is now 6-6 having split its games this weekend.

It was the story of the battle between a recently retired 374-game NBL veteran up against a young gun with a bright future having just signed at the Perth Wildcats on Sunday afternoon.

Ben Henshall delivered 34 points, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals for the CoE while shooting 5/10 from downtown and 9/9 at the free-throw line.

Tim Coenraad then produced 35 points, nine rebounds and five assists for Illawarra while going 10/19 from the floor and 13/14 at the foul line.

Julius Halaifonua also had 11 points, three rebounds and two assists for the Centre of Excellence, Jacob Furphy 11 points and four boards, and Alex Toohey 11 points, six rebounds and two assists.

Phillip Dopud finished with 15 points as well for Illawarra with Noah Pagotto contributing 13 points and five rebounds, Sam Giles 13 points and three assists, and Frederick Webb 11 points and eight assists.

Cherry lifts Falcons to third successive win

The Newcastle Falcons started and finished on fire to beat the Albury-Wodonga Bandits 95-76 at home on Sunday afternoon.

Newcastle came into the game after beating the Bankstown Bruins on Saturday while the Bandits lost to the Maitland Mustangs which brough to an end their three-game winning run.

The Falcons made a flying start on their home floor racing to a 15-point lead in the first quarter and still being up 28-17 by quarter-time.

Newcastle's lead grew to 18 during the second quarter with them still on top 56-45 by the half-time interval.

However, Albury-Wodonga weren’t going away and scored 10 straight points to even briefly grab the lead in the third term. Newcastle again responded, though, with 22 points to 13 in the fourth period to go on to score the 19-point victory.

The win is a third straight for the Falcons as they improve to 7-4 on the season with Albury-Wodonga now 6-7 after the two defeats in Round 10 away from home.

Myles Cherry kept his hot form going for Newcastle with another 25 points and 16 rebounds on 12/17 field goal shooting.

Anthony Gaines added 20 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals, Jaidyn Goodwin 13 points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals, Ryan Beisty 13 points, nine boards and five assists, and Matur Maluach 10 points and two rebounds.

Dylan Wilkie put up 22 points and two assists for Albury-Wodonga with Jamir Coleman contributing 13 points and seven rebounds, Lochlan Cummings 11 points and three boards, and Michael Parks 11 points, nine boards and four assists.

Jakob Dorricot beats the ? to put the icing on the ? for Newcastle!

Watch the #NBL1 Game of the Week Live & Free on @kayosports ? pic.twitter.com/H6194SZEtW

— NBL1 (@NBL1) May 21, 2023

Hutchison leads Sharks to back-to-back wins

The Sutherland Sharks came from behind to defeat the Sydney Comets 86-77 at home on Sunday afternoon.

Sutherland were fresh off snapping the winning streak of the Hills Hornets on Saturday while the Comets had fallen to a third straight loss at the hands of the Illawarra Hawks the previous evening.

The Sharks started strongly at home on Sunday with 24 points to 16 in the opening term but the Comets stayed in touch and limited Sutherland's lead to 39-36 at the interval.

The Comets then came out with 30 points to 21 in the third quarter to assume the lead and to be in control 66-60 by three quarter-time.

However, it was all the Sharks in the final period as they outscored Sydney 26 points to 11 to end up winning by nine to improve to 9-4 on the season. The Comets are now 6-5 having lost their past four matches.

Lochlan Hutchison shone once more for the Sharks finishing with 22 points, nine rebounds, six assists and five steals with 11/14 shooting from the free-throw line.

Marquel Beasley added 17 points, five rebounds, three steals and two blocks for Sutherland with Callum Norris contributing 13 points, three boards and two steals, and Adrian Cabrera 12 points, two rebounds and two assists.

Archer Woodhill delivered 16 points, 17 rebounds and two blocks for Sydney with Ilisia Washington contributing 14 points, five boards, three assists and two steals, Johnny Crnogorac 14 points, six rebounds, three assists and three blocks, and Julian Revell-Reade 12 points, four boards and two steals.