NBL1 North Recap | Friday Men's Round 15

The Friday night NBL1 North results to open the last round of the regular season couldn’t have set the weekend up better with the Gold Coast Rollers keeping the top spot battle alive while the Rockhampton Rockets kept that fight for the last three playoff positions a fascinating one.

The Gold Coast Rollers kept pace with the Mackay Meteors to remain a chance of snatching the regular season championship by beating the Red City Roar 120-82 on the road on Friday night.

Preston Le Gassick delivered 24 points for Gold Coast, Donovan Mitchell 20 and Tanner Krebs 20. Spencer Parker finished with 26 points and seven rebounds for Red City.

The Rockhampton Rockets then kept their faint finals hopes alive and put a dent in the aspirations of the Darwin Salties with their 99-96 win in a heart stopper on Friday night.

The result means the Rockets are now 10-9 which is where their season will finish and the Salties 10-8 with a game to come away to the league-leading Mackay Meteors on Saturday. 

With the Sunshine Coast Phoenix at 9-8, Logan Thunder 9-8, Northside Wizards 9-8 and Brisbane Capitals 9-9, there's still so much to play out to see who ends up finishing sixth, seventh and eighth by the end of the weekend.

Rockhampton held on for the win with Jarvis Summers delivering 30 points and eight assists with Jerron Jamerson delivering 22 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for Darwin.

The last regular season round of the NBL1 North will continue on Saturday evening with the Brisbane Capitals at home to the Northside Wizards with USC Rip City also taking on the Sunshine Coast Phoenix and the Cairns Marlins facing the Townsville Heat.

The Ipswich Force are also at home to the Gold Coast Rollers with the Logan Thunder hosting the South West Metro Pirates, the Mackay Meteors taking on the Darwin Salties and the Southern Districts Spartans playing the North Gold Coast Seahawks.

Then the season will wrap up on Sunday with the South West Metro Pirates playing the Sunshine Coast Phoenix, Red City Roar facing Logan Thunder, and USC Rip City taking on the Northside Wizards.

NBL1 NORTH – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 15 – FRIDAY NIGHT

RED CITY ROAR 82 lost to GOLD COAST ROLLERS 120

The Gold Coast Rollers continued their dominant form to close the NBL1 North regular season with another emphatic 38-point road win over the Red City Roar on Friday night.

Gold Coast kept their hopes alive of still finishing atop the NBL1 North with another standout showing against Red City at Paul Bancroft Centre to open the last round of the 2022 regular season.

The Rollers wasted no time working their way on top and during the first quarter they already had a 17-point lead, and were still in control 33-19 by the end of one.

The lead got out to 23 points when Gold Coast scored the first six points of the second quarter with the Rollers in control 60-37 by the main break.

While Red City stuck with Gold Coast in the third quarter, the Rollers put the afterburners on in the fourth term with another 37 points to 23 to end up winning 120-82.

Gold Coast improved themselves to a 14-4 record with the win ahead of finishing their regular season on the road to the Ipswich Force on Saturday.

A win combined with a Mackay Meteors loss at the same time to the Darwin Salties would see the Rollers nab the regular season championship.

The Roar slip to 5-13 following the loss with their season to now finish on Sunday at home to the Logan Thunder.

The biggest strength of the Rollers is how well coach Anthony Petrie has them combining as a team and willing to sacrifice for one another. The reality is Jason Cadee, Tanner Krebs or Lamar Patterson could go for 50 any given night given their individual talents, but they all want to win.

That's why Cadee went from 43 points last week where he still had 10 assists to his credit and only took 17 shots, but on Friday night he took just 10 shots and still hit 3/6 from deep for 12 points, but he played facilitator with eight assists.

Patterson was a virtual non-factor too playing only 12 minutes for four points and four rebounds, but the Rollers had plenty of others stepping up beyond Krebs with 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists on 4/8 long-range shooting.

Preston Le Gassick added 24 points and seven assists, Donovan Mitchell 20 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots, and Jaze Morris 17 points and three steals.

It was a tough night for Red City despite Spencer Parker delivering 26 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Jayden Hodgson added 17 points, three rebounds and three steals, and Alec Godinet 16 points.

ROCKHAMPTON ROCKETS 99 defeated DARWIN SALTIES 96

The Rockhampton Rockets still need a lot to go their way to reach the playoffs now that their season is over in the NBL1 North, but they at least finished on a high in a tremendous contest with the Darwin Salties on Friday night.

The Salties arrived at Bravus Arena with Nate Jawai back in the line-up and with a chance to guarantee their playoff spot in their inaugural season with a win, but the Rockets were determined to close their season on a high.

It turned out to be quite the cracking contest and despite the Rockets racing out to a 14-point lead on the back of 11 straight points, Darwin hit back with their own 10-0 run for scores to be level at 28-28 by quarter-time.

The Salties were able to open up an eight-point lead in the second term but it was the Rockets' turn to fightback and by half-time it was Darwin narrowly leading 51-50.

Both teams made their double-figure runs in the third quarter with the Salties leading by as much as eight at one point and the Rockets by five, but by three quarter-time it was the home team just on top 74-73.

The stage was set for a cracking finish and the lead continued to change hands until Jarvis Summers decided to take over for the Rockets.

He was proving a defensive menace while also going up and hitting a three to put his team up four, then taking the ball to the rack to make it six, and then he hit two free-throws to make it an eight-point margin with four minutes to play.

Kai Woodfall then scored to push Rockhampton's lead out to 10 and Matt McCarthy scored inside with two minutes on the clock to make it 11, and the Salties had to do something drastic.

Tad Dufelmeier gave them a glimmer of hope knocking down a three-pointer before he also scored inside and the Salties were back within five with a minute to play.

Darwin then suddenly were within two points when Josh Spiers hit a three ball but ultimately an offensive rebound on a Kendall Stephens missed three for Summers proved important.

Although in the end the biggest play was McCarthy blocking an attempted layup from Dufelmeier which could have tied the game and the Rockets ended up winning 99-96 in quite the dramatic match up. 

The win for the Rockets improves them to a 10-9 record on the season which is where they will end having now played their 19 games.

The Salties are now 10-8 following the loss before taking on the league-leading Mackay Meteors on Saturday night to close their regular season.

With Darwin sixth at 10-8, Sunshine Coast Phoenix, Logan Thunder and Northside Wizards just behind on 9-8, the Rockets 10-9 and then the Brisbane Capitals 9-9, there's plenty to play out over the weekend to determine who makes the NBL1 North playoffs.

Jarvis Summers finished the evening with 30 points, eight assists, four rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots for Rockhampton on the back of shooting 7/11 from the field and 4/6 from three-point range.

Kai Woodfall added 21 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Rockets, Todd Blanchfield 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, Matt McCarthy 17 points and 18 boards, and Kendall Stephens 14 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Jerron Jamerson ended up with 22 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Salties with Makuach Maluach contributing 19 points and 10 boards, and Josh Spiers 18 points and eight rebounds.

Tad Dufelmeier added 17 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and five steals with Nate Jawai marking his return with 13 points and four boards in 17 minutes.