NBL1 North Recap | Saturday Men's Round 5

Isaih Tueta hit the game winner on a big night on Saturday for USC Rip City in Round 5 of the NBL1 North while Anthony Drmic sparked the Northside Wizards and Lat Mayen came up huge at home for the Cairns Marlins.

There were Saturday night wins in the NBL1 North for USC Rip City, the Cairns Marlins, Sunshine Coast Phoenix, Northside Wizards, Mackay Meteors and Darwin Salties.

Round 5 in the NBL1 North Men's competition got underway on Friday night with the Gold Coast Rollers defeating the Mackay Meteors 86-82, and the Rockhampton Rockets beating the Townsville Heat 100-91.

Then on Saturday night, Isaih Tueta hit the game winner for USC Rip City in the 91-89 victory over the Brisbane Capitals on his way to 30 points for the evening. Nick Stoddart finished with 22 points for Brisbane.

It was a big win at home for the Sunshine Coast Phoenix over the Red City Roar, winning 108-66 with Jonathan Janssen putting up 25 points and 14 rebounds. Jayden Hodgson finished with 19 points for Red City.

It was another thriller at Rowland Cowan Stadium with the Northside Wizards holding off the charge of the Southern Districts Spartans to win 104-102. Anthony Drmic delivered 27 points and 10 rebounds for the Wizards with Chris Cedar hitting six triples for 27 points for the Spartans.

It was a big road win for the Mackay Meteors in their second game of a Round 8 triple-header with the 114-83 win against the North Gold Coast Seahawks.

Manny Malou had 24 points for Mackay while Malok Majak added 18 points and 11 boards with Tamuri Wigness scoring 19 points for the Seahawks.

The Cairns Marlins scored a Saturday night 103-97 victory at home against the Rockhampton Rockets on the back of 35 points from Lat Mayen. Todd Blanchfield had another 32 points for Rockhampton.

Lastly on Saturday night, the Darwin Salties won at home 99-83 against the South West Metro Pirates with Tad Dufelmeier putting up 25 points and Jeron Jamerson 26. Brendan Teys finished with 25 points for the Pirates.

Round 5 in the NBL1 North Men's competition will now wrap up on Sunday afternoon with the Logan Thunder hosting the Mackay Meteors.

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

BRISBANE CAPITALS 89 lost to USC RIP CITY 91

Saturday night's NBL1 North action got underway with a terrific thriller between the Brisbane Capitals and USC Rip City at Auchenflower Stadium.

Rip City started strongly away from home and were on top most of the evening including leading by as much as eight during the first quarter before being up 25-20 by the end of the opening term.

The USC lead went out to double-figures during the second quarter but a 7-0 run for Brisbane kept them in touch with Rip City only narrowly leading 47-40 at the major break.

Another run of seven consecutive points for Brisbane during the third quarter saw them grab the lead, but only for a matter of seconds and Rip City maintained their edge 71-66 by three quarter-time.

While eight straight points for Rip City saw them back out to an 11-0 point edge, Brisbane hit 11 in-a-row of their own and it was a game destined to come down to the final possession.

That saw scores tied up when Rip City had the final possession and coming out of a timeout, it was Isaih Tueta who was isolated and created his own shot, and knocked down the mid-range jumper for the game winner.

USC won the game 91-89 to improve to 3-1 on the season while Brisbane are now 2-3.

Not only did Isaih Tueta hit the game winner, but he was terrific all evening to finish with 30 points, four rebounds and three assists on 13/19 shooting from the floor.

Kouat Noi is awaiting to see where he lands in NBL Free Agency but he put up 20 points, 12 rebounds and four assists for Rip City while Verle Williams contributed 13 points and four steals, Eric McAllister nine points and six rebounds, and Louis Ilton eight points, three boards and three assists.

Nick Stoddart continued his impressive form this season with 22 points and four rebounds on 9/14 shooting for the Capitals with Max Mackinnon adding 15 points and six assists, Harrison Rouhliadeff 13 points and four rebounds, and Ben Volkman 11 points and seven boards.

 

CAIRNS MARLINS 103 defeated ROCKHAMPTON ROCKETS 97

The Cairns Marlins shook off a shaky start to set up an eventual six-point win at home to the Rockhampton Rockets on Saturday night.

The Marlins were coming off a win against Nate Jawai and the Darwin Salties last week also at Townsville StarFM Stadium while the Rockets had defeated the Townsville Heat the previous night to start their Round 5 road double.

The Rockets started well to try and make it two away wins inside 24 hours, and had opened up a 25-17 lead by quarter-time having opened up a double-figure advantage.

The Marlins fired back in the second quarter, though, with 29 points to 20 to hit the lead just before half-time and to be on top 46-45 at the major break.

Cairns then continued on with that momentum by putting on 34 points to 28 in the third quarter. They then secured the win 103-97 on the back of that to improve to 3-3 on the season after five rounds while the Rockets slip to 4-2 with the defeat.

Lat Mayen produced a standout performance for Cairns in the win finishing with 35 points and seven rebounds on the back of shooting 14/23 from the field and 5/9 from three-point land.

Ben Ayre added 23 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Marlins, Deba George 20 points and five assists, Curt Ah Wang 11 points and four rebounds, and James Mitchell 10 points and four boards.

Fresh off re-signing at the Perth Wildcats, Todd Blanchfield delivered 32 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Rockets with Damian Prgomet contributing 21 points and eight boards, Isaiah Moss 21 points and seven rebounds, Kendall Stephens 11 points and four boards, and Kai Woodfall eight points and five assists.

 

SUNSHINE COAST PHOENIX 108 defeated RED CITY ROAR 66

The Sunshine Coast Phoenix delivered quite the emphatic performance to beat the Red City Roar by 42 points at home on Saturday night.

The Phoenix were back home at Maroochydore Stadium and opened up a handy lead early by as much as 15 points and to be up 26-13 by quarter-time.

Sunshine Coast then really blew Red City out of the water in the second period going on a run of scoring 17 straight points to at one stage lead by as much as 37 points to be on top 62-27 by half-time.

It was more of the same in the second half with the Phoenix at one stage leading by as much as 45 points in the fourth quarter before winning 108-66.

The result improves Sunshine Coast to a 5-2 record on the season after five rounds while Red City are now 2-3.

Sunshine Coast raked in 65 rebounds to 39 for the game and ended up shooting 47.6 per cent from the floor and 39.4 per cent from deep while Red City went just 34.2 per cent from the field and 1/23 from three-point range.

Jonathan Janssen top-scored for Sunshine Coast with 25 points and 14 rebounds on 9/15 shooting with Jamaal Robateau adding 21 points on 4/8 shooting from three-point territory.

Mason Bragg delivered 19 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and four steals, and Darnell Robateau 16 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists.

Jayden Hodgson top-scored for the Roar with 19 points, five rebounds, five assists and four steals with Spencer Parker adding 14 points and four steals, Nelson Larkins eight points and five rebounds, and Mitch Poulain eight points and six boards.

 

SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SPARTANS 102 lost to NORTHSIDE WIZARDS 104

It was a thriller on Saturday night at Rowland Cowan Stadium with the Northside Wizards prevailing by two points over the Southern Districts Spartans.

The Wizards made a fast start away from home scoring 11 consecutive points in the first quarter and opening up a 15-point lead but by quarter-time the Spartans were back within two after both teams combined for 64 in the term.

Scores were then all square at half-time at 56-56 and scores were locked still at three quarter-time at 79-79.

Lual Diing helped the Wizards to a five-point edge early in the fourth term before Zach Williams-Hook extended the lead to seven. An Anthony Drmic three with four minutes left kept Northside on top by six and a CJ Massingale offensive board and putback had them back up eight.

The Spartans weren’t going away, though and a pair of three balls from Chris Cedar made it a three-point ball game again, but the Wizards had enough answers with a layup from Massingale.

When he hit two free-throws too the 104-102 win was secured for Northside to improve them to 3-2 on the season while Southern Districts are now 0-5 and still searching for that first win of 2022.

On the back of just signing to make his NBL return to the Adelaide 36ers, Anthony Drmic put up 27 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals for the Wizards.

Lual Diing added 21 points and 15 rebounds, CJ Massingale 17 points and five boards, Mitch McCarron 15 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists, and Cameron Thew 11 points.

Chris Cedar put up 27 points, eight assists and four rebounds on 6/11 shooting from deep for Southern Districts with Ben Hastings adding 22 points, Kobe McDowell-White 14 points, seven boards, seven assists and three steals, and Jacob Allen 10 points.

 

NORTH GOLD COAST SEAHAWKS 83 lost to MACKAY METEORS 114

The Mackay Meteors bounced back from a heartbreaking start to their three-week road trip this weekend by beating the North Gold Coast Seahawks by 31 points on Saturday night.

The Meteors have come south for three matches in Round 5 of the NBL1 North competition and they were on track to beat the Gold Coast Rollers most of the way on Friday before losing by four points.

Despite the presence of NBL trio Jordan Hunter, Jack McVeigh and Tamuri Wigness, the Seahawks were no match for the Meteors after quarter-time.

Scores were tied at 26-apiece after one but then the Meteors produced 32 points to 21 in the second quarter at Runaway Bay Stadium to lead 58-47 at half-time.

Mackay pulled away further in the third quarter with 23 points to 21, and then they delivered a further 33 points to 15 in the fourth to end up winning 114-83.

The Meteors are now 4-2 on the season with a game to come on Sunday against the Logan Thunder while the Seahawks slip to 1-5.

Manny Malou produced another impressive performance for the Meteors with 24 points, six rebounds and three assists while knocking down 8/11 from the floor and 4/5 from the land of plenty.

Jaylin Galloway added 21 points, five rebounds and five assists for Mackay, Biwali Bayles 18 points and five boards, Malok Majak 18 points and 11 rebounds, Villami Foketi eight points, six boards and three assists, and Kyrin Galloway eight points.

Tamuri Wigness finished with 19 points for North Gold Coast with Amarco Doyle adding 16 points and six rebounds, Jack McVeigh 15 points, five boards and four assists, and Jordan Hunter 11 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

 

DARWIN SALTIES 99 defeated SOUTH WEST METRO PIRATES 83

It was another packed house at Darwin Basketball Stadium to cheer their Darwin Salties on to a 16-point win against the South West Metro Pirates.

The Salties were back at home following their road trip to Townsville and Cairns in Round 4, and they started on fire against the Pirates with 27 points to 12 in the opening quarter.

It was another 26 points to 19 in the second period to see them head into half-time leading 53-31.

South West weren’t quite done with, though, and they did score 33 points in the third quarter and got back within two points at one stage but at three quarter-time the Salties were back on top by seven.

Darwin then closed the deal on the back of their vocal home crowd support with 28 points to 19 in the fourth quarter to win 99-83 and improve to 4-2 on the season while the Pirates are now 3-3.

Jerron Jamerson led the charge for Darwin with 26 points, eight assists, six rebounds, four steals and three blocks while shooting 10/16 from the floor and 5/6 at the foul line.

Adelaide 36ers guard Tad Dufelmeier also produced 25 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals with Makuach Maluach contributing 15 points, six rebounds and six assists, and Josh Spiers 13 points. 

Nate Jawai also had nine points, seven rebounds and four assists in 26 minutes of court time.

Brendan Teys delivered another 25 points, six rebounds and five assists for South West with Cameron Gordon adding 14 points and two steals, Jakobe Hunter 12 points and two assists, and Taylor Young 12 points, three rebounds and three assists.