NBL1 North Recap | Friday Men's Round 5

The Rockhampton Rockets dug deep for a Friday night NBL1 North Round 5 road win with the Gold Coast Rollers also shooting their way to overcome a hefty deficit to the Mackay Meteors.

There were the two matches on Friday night to open Round 5 in the NBL1 North competition with the Rockhampton Rockets defeating the Townsville Heat 100-91.

Isaiah Moss put up 26 points for Rockhampton coming off his NBL season at the Brisbane Bullets with Damian Prgomet adding 22 points and 16 rebounds. Ethan Betts went for 32 points for Townsville.

Despite the absence of Lamar Patterson and falling 15 points down to the Mackay Meteors, the Gold Coast Rollers shot themselves out of trouble for the 86-82 victory at home.

The half-time arrival Tidjane Diop helped the Rollers too with Jason Cadee and Tanner Krebs ending up combining for 61 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists and seven triples. Biwali Bayles put up 20 points, six rebounds and four assists for Mackay.

Round 5 in the NBL1 North Men's season continues on Saturday evening beginning at 7pm with the Brisbane Capitals at home to USC Rip City.

Then at 8pm, the Cairns Marlins play the Rockhampton Rockets, the Sunshine Coast Phoenix face the Red City Roar and the Southern Districts Spartans take on the Northside Wizards.

At 8.30pm also on Saturday evening, the North Gold Coast Seahawks play host to the Mackay Meteors and at 9pm the Darwin Salties host the South West Metro Pirates.

The round then wraps up on Sunday with the Logan Thunder at home to the Mackay Meteors who complete their triple-header for the round.

NBL1 NORTH – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 5 – FRIDAY NIGHT

TOWNSVILLE HEAT 91 lost to ROCKHAMPTON ROCKETS 100

The Rockhampton Rockets started and finished strongly to score a nine-point road win in Townsville on Friday night.

The Rockets travelled to Townsville StarFM Stadium to take on the Heat to open Round 5 in the NBL1 North competition on Friday night, and the visitors started strongly with 32 points to 18 in the opening quarter.

Fresh off an NBL season as an import at the Brisbane Bullets, Isaiah Moss was on fire early to help the Rockets build that early lead and they still went into the half-time break leading 54-40.

Townsville did fire back in the third quarter at one point scoring 11 straight points and putting up 27 points to 16 for the term to make a game of it by three quarter-time.

However, Rockhampton still led by three going into the fourth and were able to close the deal on the road with 30 points to 24 in the fourth quarter to go on and win 100-91.

The result improves the Cyclones to a 4-1 record on the season while the Heat are now 2-3.

The Cyclones were in love with the three ball on the night and went 15/43 from deep with Isaiah Moss ending up going 4/12 from the land of plenty on the way to 26 points, six rebounds and four assists.

Fresh off re-signing with the Perth Wildcats in the NBL, Todd Blanchfield hit 5/10 from downtown for Rockhampton for 21 points, five rebounds and three assists with Damian Prgomet contributing 22 points and 16 boards.

Kai Woodfall added 12 points, eight assists and five rebounds, Kendall Stephens 11 points and three boards, and Kon Anguik eight points and eight rebounds.

Ethan Betts put in a huge performance for the Heat scoring 32 points on 11/16 shooting from the field to go with 10/10 at the foul line along with three rebounds and three assists.

Richard Peachey added 21 points and eight rebounds, Taine Wattie 23 points, seven boards, four assists and four steals, DeAndre Daniels eight points and eight rebounds, and Matthew Rees five points, nine boards, three assists and two blocked shots.

GOLD COAST ROLLERS 86 defeated MACKAY METEORS 82

The Mackay Meteors started their massive weekend on fire but couldn’t quite keep it going with the Gold Coast Rollers overrunning them in the finish to keep their undefeated run going.

The Rollers came into the clash at Carrara Stadium without Lamar Patterson and with a flight delay meaning Tidjane Diop wasn’t there for the first half, and the Meteors were able to take full advantage.

With Biwali Bayles running the ship, Manny Malou impressive, Villami Foketi coming up big and Malok Majak doing a bit of everything, Mackay produced a dominant start to the contest.

The Meteors scored the opening 11 points of the game before still leading 21-16 by quarter-time on the back of a buzzer-beater from Majak following a three ball from Bayles.

Kyrin and Jaylin Galloway then hit a three-pointer each to open the second quarter and Mackay would end up leading by a game-high 15 points shortly before half-time.

However, Gold Coast weren’t about to lie down and accept their first loss of the season. While they missed 16 of their first 17 three-point attempts in the first half, the Rollers kept on shooting and it ended up paying off.

Jaylin Galloway knocked down another three ball before Jason Cadee hit two of them and Tanner Krebs two of his own in the third quarter to help bring scores level by three quarter-time.

The Gold Coast firepower was then too much down the stretch and the home team claimed the 86-82 victory to improve to a perfect 4-0 record on the season while the Meteors are now 3-2 with two more games still to come in Round 5 against North Gold Coast and Logan Thunder.

It was a spectacular double-team performance especially in the second half for Gold Coast by Tanner Krebs and Jason Cadee. The Brisbane Bullets NBL teammates combined for 61 points, 15 rebounds, 10 assists and six steals while hitting seven triples between them.

Krebs finished with 32 points and 11 rebounds with Cadee adding 29 points and seven assists with Preston La Gassick contributing 11 points and six boards, and Tidjane Diop four points and five rebounds after arriving at the building at half-time.

Sydney Kings championship winning guard Biwali Bayles delivered 20 points, six rebounds and four assists for Mackay with Manny Malou adding 15 points and nine rebounds.

Malok Majak also had 18 points and six rebounds, Villami Foketi 11 points, four boards and three assists, Kyrin Galloway nine points and 12 rebounds, and Jaylin Galloway six points and 14 boards.