After two days of the NBL1 National Finals it's the Rockingham Flames and Frankston Blues left as the undefeated men's teams with them to fight it out for the championship in Melbourne on Sunday.
The Flames had never won a championship in men's action of any kind just over a week ago, but now on the back of winning the NBL1 West title last Friday night, they have the chance to add the national championship to that on Sunday.
Rockingham produced another standout performance at the State Basketball Centre on Saturday night beating the Hobart Chargers despite the absence of Devondrick Walker and Greg Hire.
That sees them book a spot in Sunday's championship game where they will take on a Frankston team who reached the National Finals thanks to scoring the biggest Wildcard victory during the season against the Centre of Excellence.
They then booked their spot in the championship game on Sunday by beating the South Adelaide Panthers in what has been the game of the men's competition in the opening two days so far.
With Rockingham and Frankston the only two undefeated teams in the National Finals, the Canberra Gunners, Gold Coast Rollers and Hobart Chargers have split their two matches while South Adelaide is yet to record a victory.
All six teams backed up on Saturday for the second day of action at the State Basketball Centre with the Canberra Gunners once again making a flying start and this time being able to hold on to beat the Gold Coast Rollers 101-91.
James Toohey his six three-pointers for 21 points for Canberra with Akech Aliir adding 19 points, Glenn Morison 17, Dhal Fieg 15 and Shaun Mills 12. Lamar Patterson scored another 32 points for Gold Coast.
The Rockingham Flames then proved too powerful for the Hobart Chargers to keep their winning run going with the 102-87 victory.
Marshall Nelson delivered 29 points in a spectacular performance while Justin Beard nailed seven three-pointers on his way to 23 points and 11 rebounds.
Ole Angerstein finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Chargers.
The game of the tournament so far then saw the Frankston Blues finish strongly to overcome the South Adelaide Panthers for the 95-90 victory.
Lachie Barker hit some critical shots on his way to 23 points and four assists with four three-pointers for Frankston. Jeremy Smith was spectacular for South Adelaide with 30 points but when he fouled out it was a cruel blow for the Panthers.
NBL1 – 2022 NATIONAL FINALS
DAY 2 – SATURDAY
CANBERRA GUNNERS 101 defeated GOLD COAST ROLLERS 91
The Canberra Gunners couldn’t quite complete the deal against the Frankston Blues on Friday night to open the National Finals, but they did in impressive fashion on Saturday against the Gold Coast Rollers.
On the back of winning the NBL1 East championship two weeks ago, Canberra arrived in Melbourne for the National Finals with their whole squad available and they did plenty right on Friday against Frankston.
For most of the game the Gunners were on track for what many might have considered an upset victory before losing a nail-biter by just three points when Will Mayfield's shot at the death just couldn’t quite fall to force overtime.
But still Canberra deserved to take plenty out of that hit out ahead of taking on a Gold Coast team who won the NBL1 North championship and then started their weekend in Melbourne beating the Hobart Chargers by six points.
However, it was a Gold Coast team without Brisbane Bullets NBL trio Jason Cadee, Tanner Krebs and DJ Mitchell, so the Gunners deserved to see it as a chance to make a statement.
Canberra got off to a flying start on Friday against Frankston to lead by as much as 18 points in the first half and they were even more impressive early on against the Rollers on Saturday.
Canberra were simply on fire in the opening quarter scoring 10 straight points and leading by as much as 20, and ending up piling on 36 points to just 18 from Gold Coast.
That lead grew to 26 points early in the second quarter and while the Rollers were able to limit the damage from there and score eight straight points of their own, Canberra was still on top 55-40 at half-time.
Gold Coast did its best to try and fight back into the contest led by Lamar Patterson, but the gap was too big to bridge and Canberra held firm to maintain their double-figure lead most of the second half before going on to win 101-91.
It was a significant win for the Gunners against the NBL1 North champions with James Toohey knocking down 6/11 from three-point territory for 21 points and seven rebounds.
Akech Aliir added 19 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals for Canberra, excitement machine Dhal Fieg 15 points, five steals, four assists and three boards, and Shaun Mills 12 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
Meanwhile, Grand Final MVP Glenn Morison had another strong showing too with 17 points and 13 rebounds with Will Mayfield contributing seven points, seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
Former NBL import and All-First Team member Lamar Patterson put up 32 points, five rebounds and three assists for Gold Coast on the back of knocking down 4/8 from three-point range, 10/22 from the field and 8/12 from the foul line.
Billy Rigby added 16 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals, Nevarda Higgins 12 points and four boards, Jaze Morris 11 points and five rebounds, and Devon Sullivan seven points and 11 boards.
ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 102 defeated HOBART CHARGERS 87
The Rockingham Flames finished the NBL1 West season in hot form to win a first ever championship and now they are one win away from winning a second title in eight days.
The Flames took on the NBL1 South champion Hobart Chargers on Saturday night at the National Finals in Melbourne with both teams having secured their conference crowns just seven days prior.
Rockingham prevailed in the NBL1 West Grand Final against the Geraldton Buccaneers to make history with a first ever men's championship before bringing that form to Melbourne with the 87-71 win on Friday night over the South Adelaide Panthers.
Hobart also broke through the NBL1 South championship last Saturday night with the win over the Mount Gambier Pioneers before they opened the National Finals with a 92-86 loss to the Gold Coast Rollers.
Both teams hadn’t arrived in Melbourne at full strength with Rockingham minus NBL1 West MVP and Grand Final MVP Devondrick Walker along with four-time NBL champion Greg Hire while Hobart were missing NBL trio Harry Froling, Sam McDaniel and Jarred Bairstow.
There was still no shortage of talent on either side, though, or on the sidelines with a fascinating coaching battle with reigning WNBL Coach of the Year Ryan Petrik pitting himself against NBL great Anthony Stewart.
It was a tight opening to the game too with Rockingham only clinging to a 23-20 advantage at quarter-time before the Flames began to pull away with 24 points to 16 in the second term to go into half-time leading 47-36.
Rockingham then extended that lead out to 20 points in the third quarter and it grew to 27 in the fourth before Hobart was able to score 10 straight points and cut the Flames final victory score to 102-87.
It was still enough for the Flames to secure their spot in the championship match on Sunday and they will enter that game against Frankston on an 11-game winning streak.
Former Illawarra Hawks and Cairns Taipans guard, and two-time NBL1 West championship winner Marshall Nelson was outstanding for Rockingham with 29 points, three rebounds and three assists on shooting 10/14 from the floor, 3/5 from downtown and 6/7 at the free-throw line.
Justin Beard is a veteran of 185 games and he knocked down 7/10 from the land of plenty for 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Flames with Ryan Godfrey contributing 14 points and three assists, and Tom Jervis 10 points, eight boards and five assists.
Jake Amos added eight points, Harry Bowater six points, three rebounds and two steals, and Callum Beard eight points and four boards.
German powerhouse Ole Angerstein finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds and two assists for Hobart with AJ Harris adding 17 points, three boards and three assists, and Jamar Sandifer 13 points, six rebounds and five assists.
FRANKSTON BLUES 95 defeated SOUTH ADELAIDE PANTHERS 90
One of the great aspects of a tournament like the National Finals is when you get two unfamiliar teams to one another putting together a cracking contest, and that's exactly what the Frankston Blues and South Adelaide Panthers did.
Frankston were the only team at the National Finals this week who didn’t win their conference championship having handed the Centre of Excellence their biggest defeat to earn their spot.
The Blues then had the added bonus of not having to travel anywhere to compete before then coming from 18 points down on Friday to pull off the thrilling 89-86 victory against the Canberra Gunners.
Meanwhile, in Scott Ninnis' first season in charge as coach of South Adelaide, they broke a 24-year championship drought last Saturday night by winning the NBL1 Central title by beating Woodville in the Grand Final.
South Adelaide had a rough start in Melbourne, though, losing to the Rockingham Flames by 16 points on Friday night.
Frankston then got off to a blistering start on Saturday night going on a 12-0 run in the first quarter on the way to 39 points to go into quarter-time leading 39-22.
The lead for the Blues got out to as much as 21 points during the second quarter as well but then the Panthers began to work their way back into the contest with their own 10-0 run to cut the Frankston lead to 11 by half-time.
That set the stage for a terrific second half and despite Frankston still leading by 13 points early in the fourth term after a bucket to Adrio Bailey, South Adelaide kept on coming starting with a three ball from Codey Ellison.
Jeremy Smith then knocked down a three-pointer of his own for the Panthers before hitting another pull up jumper and suddenly the margin was just six points.
By the time Smith scored again with just under five minutes to play, the margin was three and then South Adelaide pulled level with a three ball from Todd Davies. However, Smith fouled out seconds later and was understandably far from happy about it, and it did turn out to be a significant factor in the end result.
However, Davies hit another from downtown to give the Panthers the lead with three minutes to play. He nailed his third bomb of the quarter with a minute to play to keep scores tied, but it would be Frankston who finished the better from there.
South Adelaide was dearly missing the presence of Smith and Lachie Barker came up huge with two massive shots including a three-pointer that proved the sealer with the Blues going on to win 95-90 and book in their place in Sunday's championship game.
Lachie Barker backed up his huge game from Friday against Canberra with another tremendous performance for Frankston as he tries to earn an NBL contract. He finished with 23 points and four assists while hitting 4/8 from three-point territory.
Daniel Trist added 17 points and seven rebounds, Igor Hadziomerovic 13 points, seven boards and four assists, Dillon Stith 12 points and three rebounds, Alister Macdonald 11 points, Adrio Bailey eight points, 11 rebounds and five steals, and Lucas Barker seven points and nine assists.
Before fouling out late, Jeremy Smith came up huge for South Adelaide with 20 points on 11/18 shooting from the field and 7/8 from the foul line while hitting his only three-point attempt.
Todd Davies hit 6/8 from beyond the arc for 22 points with Alex Starling finishing with 21 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals, and Codey Ellison 10 points, four boards, two assists and two steals.
