NBL1 North Recap | Saturday Men's Round 6

Isaac White and Majok Deng combined for 65 points in a Saturday night NBL1 North win for the Ipswich Force with Jason Cadee and Tanner Krebs adding 53 points for the Gold Coast Rollers, and that was just two of the match ups in the Round 6 action.

There were Saturday night NBL1 North Round 6 victories for the Ipswich Force, Northside Wizards, Mackay Meteors, Gold Coast Rollers and Darwin Salties.

Round 6 in the NBL1 North Men's competition began on Friday night with the Logan Thunder beating the Brisbane Capitals 93-88, the Cairns Marlins defeating the Gold Coast Rollers 92-87 and USC Rip City downing the Rockhampton Rockets 103-76.

The Saturday night Round 6 action began at JBS Stadium with the Ipswich Force delivering an emphatic home victory against the winless Southern District Spartans 116-87.

Illawarra Hawks NBL guard Isaac White put up 35 points on six threes for Ipswich with Cairns Taipans star Majok Deng adding 30 points, nine rebounds and five steals with five triples. Jacob Allen scored 18 points for Southern Districts.

The Northside Wizards started on fire to set up an eventual 92-76 win against the Sunshine Coast Phoenix at home on Saturday night with newly signed Adelaide 36ers NBL gun Anthony Drmic putting up 26 points. Jonathan Janssen had another 22 points for Sunshine Coast.

The Mackay Meteors were back on their home deck after last weekend's triple-header down south and beat USC Rip City 99-83. 

Biwali Bayles delivered 31 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists to lead the way for Mackay while NBL Free Agent Kouat Noi produced 33 points and 13 rebounds for Rip City.

The Gold Coast Rollers bounced back impressively from their first loss of the season to beat the Townsville Heat 103-84 in the north on Saturday night.

Tanner Krebs and Jason Cadee combined for another 53 points, 17 assists and 13 rebounds with 11 three-pointers for the Rollers in the win. Sam Froling produced 25 points, 14 rebounds and six assists for his hometown Heat.

It was another packed and passionate turnout at Darwin Basketball Stadium on Saturday night and they went home happy with the Darwin Salties beating the North Gold Coast Seahawks 87-75.

Tad Dufelmeier produced some spectacular plays on his way to 20 points, nine rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocks in the win for Darwin while Jack McVeigh had 34 points and 13 boards for the Seahawks. 

Round 6 of the NBL1 North Men's season concludes on Sunday with the Southern Districts Spartans hosting the Brisbane Capitals at Rowland Cowan Stadium.

NBL1 NORTH – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 6 – SATURDAY NIGHT

IPSWICH FORCE 116 defeated SOUTHERN DISTRICT SPARTANS 87

The Ipswich Force flexed their considerable muscle in what could have been their most complete performance of the NBL1 North season to score a big win over the Southern District Spartans on Saturday night.

Ipswich was back home at JBS Stadium to host the winless Southern Districts, and the home team didn’t take long to warm to the task.

The Force scored 10 straight points during the first quarter on the way to opening up a 17-point advantage and leading still 30-16 by the end of the opening quarter.

To the credit of the Spartans, they did fire back during the second quarter and even outscored the Force 34 points to 27 to cut the half-time deficit to 57-50.

However, Ipswich warmed back up in the second half with 35 points to 15 in the third quarter, and 24 to 22 in the fourth to end up winning 116-87.

The result improves Ipswich to a 3-5 record on the season by the end of Round 6 while Southern Districts are 0-6 still chasing that first win of 2022 with a game to come still on Sunday.

While the Spartans won the rebound count by eight, Ipswich shot the ball impressively at 51.3 per cent to 44.9 along with hitting 14/30 from downtown compared with 12/37 from their opponents while the home team forced Southern Districts into 24 turnovers for the game.

Illawarra Hawks NBL guard Isaac White was tremendous for Ipswich with 35 points on 6/10 shooting from three-point territory with Cairns Taipans forward Majok Deng adding 30 points, nine boards, five steals and three assists while hitting 5/7 from beyond the arc.

Henry Pwono added 26 points and eight rebounds for the Force and Cameron Goldfinch eight points to go with five assists and three steals.

Jacob Allen made the most of his 20 minutes off the bench for Southern Districts with 18 points and four rebounds while Jalen Canty contributed 16 points and 10 boards, Chris Cedar 14 points and five rebounds, and Sam Korst 11 points.

 

NORTHSIDE WIZARDS 92 defeated SUNSHINE COAST PHOENIX 76

Anthony Drmic and Mitch McCarron are gearing up to their NBL season together at the Adelaide 36ers having starred in Saturday night's win for the Northside Wizards against the Sunshine Coast Phoenix.

The Wizards were at home at South Pine Sports Complex and they got off to a hot start against the Phoenix with 30 points to 13 in the opening quarter.

Sunshine Coast did hit back in the second term with 24 points to 20 to see them pull back the Northside lead to 13 by the half-time break.

Things were relatively even in the second half even though Northside's lead did grow out to 21 points at one stage. The Wizards went on to win the game 92-76 to improve to a 4-2 record on the season while the loss leaves the Phoenix at 5-3.

The shooting was the difference between the two teams with Northside going at 50.7 per cent from the field and Sunshine Coast 33.8. The Wizards also nailed 13/32 of their threes opposes to 6/23.

Anthony Drmic will be joining the Adelaide 36ers in #NBL23 and he's getting ready impressively by putting up 26 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two blocks for the Wizards while draining 4/9 from three-point land.

His captain at the 36ers will be Mitch McCarron who also had 23 points, eight assists, four rebounds and two blocks for the Wizards with Lual Diing contributing 19 points and 11 boards, and Cameron Thew 12 points and seven rebounds.

Jonathan Janssen top-scored for Sunshine Coast with 22 points and 12 rebounds with Mason Bragg finishing with 16 points and seven boards, Nelson Kahler 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Jamaal Robateau nine points, five steals, three boards and two assists.

 

MACKAY METEORS 99 defeated USC RIP CITY 83

The Mackay Meteors returned home after their Round 5 triple header and were impressive in beating USC Rip City by 16 points on Saturday night.

Mackay had three games on the road in the south of Queensland last week, but they were back home at Mackay Basketball Stadium on Saturday night to host a USC team boosted by the inclusion of Sydney Kings NBL championship winning starter Wani Swaka Lo Buluk.

Rip City went on to start well to lead 26-23 by quarter-time and then scores were all square by half-time with scores tied at 46-46.

Mackay began to work their way on top with an 8-0 run in the third quarter to lead by seven at one stage, and then they scored another seven successive points to end up winning 99-83.

The result sees the Meteors improve to a 6-2 record on the season after six rounds of the 2022 season while Rip City are now 4-2 after their opening six matches.

It was another Sydney championship winning guard, Biwali Bayles, who starred for Mackay in the win with 31 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists on 11/20 from the field and 8/11 from the free-throw line.

Manny Malou put up 23 points and 10 rebounds as well for the Meteors on shooting 4/7 from beyond the three-point line with Villami Foketi contributing 15 points and five boards, Kyrin Galloway 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Jaylin Galloway 10 points and six boards.

Kouat Noi is an NBL Free Agent and his price might have gone up with his 33 points and 13 rebounds for Rip City. Isaih Tueta also had 15 points and four assists, and Joe Chilcott 12 points and five rebounds.

 

TOWNSVILLE HEAT 84 lost to GOLD COAST ROLLERS 103

The Gold Coast Rollers maintained their hold on top spot in the NBL1 North competition after six rounds with a win on the road to the Townsville Heat on Saturday night.

The Heat hosted the Rollers at Townsville StarFM Stadium and it was a tight and entertainment opening quarter with Gold Coast leading narrowly 27-25 by quarter-time.

It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the Rollers were actually to work their way on top for good with the Rollers leading 54-46 at half-time, but Townsville turned it around in the third quarter with 27 points to 17 to take a lead into the fourth term.

Gold Coast lifted impressively, though, in the fourth quarter with 32 points to 11 to run out 103-84 winners to improve to 5-1 on the season while Townsville is now 2-4 following the defeat on their home court.

The Rollers might now be without Lamar Patterson, but they still had two other Brisbane Bullets NBL players coming up huge. Jason Cadee delivered 26 points, 13 assists and seven rebounds while hitting 6/15 from beyond the arc.

Tanner Krebs also had 27 points, six boards and four assists while shooting 5/13 from the land of plenty with Preston Le Gassick adding 19 points and four rebounds, and Nevarda Higgins eight points and two boards.

Sam Froling played his first game of the NBL1 North season with his hometown Townsville and the Illawarra Hawks big man put up 25 points, 14 rebounds and six assists.

Ethan Betts added 20 points and nine rebounds for the Heat, Richard Peachey 18 points and seven boards, and Taine Wattie 10 points, four rebounds and four assists.

 

DARWIN SALTIES 87 defeated NORTH GOLD COAST SEAHAWKS 75

The Darwin Salties were back on their home court and gave their local fans plenty to cheer about once more in a win against Jack McVeigh and the North Gold Coast Seahawks.

It was another packed Darwin Basketball Stadium ready to cheer on their new Salties team and by quarter-time they had managed to hit back from an early eight-point deficit to the Seahawks to lead 21-15.

Darwin then pulled right away during the second period to lead by as much as 20 points on the back of putting together 32 points to 20 to head into the half-time break leading 53-35.

North Gold Coast made a game of it again at times during the second half but still by three quarter-time the Salties were leading 66-57.

Darwin was then able to go on another 7-0 run in the fourth quarter on the way to securing the 87-75 victory to improve to a 5-2 record in their debut season while North Gold Coast are now 1-6 following six rounds.

Adelaide 36ers NBL guard Tad Dufelmeier had a spectacular performance for the Salties with 20 points, nine rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocked shots.

Makuach Maluach is about to embark on his Melbourne United NBL career and he had 16 points, 13 rebounds, four blocked shots and two steals with Jarrod Molnar adding 17 points on shooting 4/9 from three-point range.

Nate Jawai added 13 points and nine rebounds, and Jerron Jamerson 11 points, nine boards, five assists and two steals.

Jack McVeigh top-scored for North Gold Coast with 34 points along with 13 rebounds and six blocked shots while shooting 14/26 from the field and 4/11 at three-point range.

Aiden Krause added 13 points and four rebounds, Tamuri Wigness 10 points, nine assists and eight rebounds, and Jordan Hunter eight points and five boards.