NBL1 North Recap | Saturday Men's Semi Finals

The Gold Coast Rollers and USC Rip City couldn’t have been more impressive in their NBL1 North semi-final match ups on Saturday night setting up a mouth-watering Grand Final Series between the two teams.

The finals got underway last weekend in the NBL1 North Men's competition for 2022 with four remarkable and dramatic quarter finals with 10 points the combined final margin across all four matches.

They saw the Gold Coast Rollers beat the Logan Thunder, Cairns Marlins defeat the Ipswich Force, Northside Wizards down the Mackay Meteors, and USC Rip City prevail against the Darwin Salties.

That set up a semi-final night on Saturday with spots in next week's Grand Final Series up for grabs and the Gold Coast Rollers and USC Rip City couldn’t have been more impressive.

The Northside Wizards might have had plenty of momentum with their loaded up roster and Gold Coast might have just squeaked through last week, but the Rollers were superb on Saturday night winning 108-85.

Donovan Mitchell continued his stunning form for a Gold Coast team without Lamar Patterson and Preston Le Gassick, delivering 35 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots. Jason Cadee also had 17 points and 13 assists.

It was a decidedly different Wizards outfit minus Mitch McCarron with Keanu Pinder finishing with 27 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks as their run came to an end.

Rip City then proved too strong for the Cairns Marlins winning 90-63 to qualify for the Grand Final Series.

Sydney Kings NBL guard Kouat Noi backed up his big talk with a huge performance for USC made up of 32 points and 19 rebounds with Isaih Tueta adding 16 points and 10 assists.

Cairns Taipans point guard Ben Ayre produced 24 points and six rebounds as the Marlins' season came to an end.

The best-of-three Grand Final Series will now get underway between the Rollers and Rip City on Friday, with the deciding games to follow on Saturday and if needed, Sunday. They will all take place at Carrara Stadium.

NBL1 NORTH – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
SEMI FINALS – SATURDAY NIGHT

GOLD COAST ROLLERS 108 defeated NORTHSIDE WIZARDS 85

It loomed as quite the tantalising semi-final match up at Carrara Stadium between the regular season champions and a team who made quite the ominous run late in the piece with their roster stacked up.

The Gold Coast Rollers finished the regular season in top spot in the NBL1 North but for much of their quarter-final battle with the Logan Thunder, they appeared to be heading for an early exit even on their home court.

They ended up escaping with the overtime victory but the reward was taking on a Wizards team who had been in some scintillating form since adding Keanu Pinder and Mitch McCarron into the line-up after they were part of Australia's successful FIBA Asia Cup campaign.

The Wizards beat the second ranked Mackay Meteors in the quarter finals to set up a mouth-watering semi-final battle with the Rollers on Saturday night.

Both teams weren’t quite at full strength to add to the intrigue with Gold Coast losing Preston Le Gassick with Lamar Patterson still out while the Wizards suffered a significant blow without Adelaide 36ers NBL captain McCarron.

It was a relatively tight first half with Gold Coast leading by just a point at quarter-time. The Rollers did assume more control in the second term leading by as much as eight and being on top 50-43 by half-time.

However, the Wizards were still close enough and had the firepower to make a run, but it was a night where it just didn’t click for them without McCarron running the ship.

Pinder became the focal point of everything and couldn’t do it all himself, and to be fair tried too hard to force it, and Gold Coast soon put them to the sword.

The Rollers dominated the third quarter by putting up 35 points to 26 and that saw the lead blow out to 16 points. It got to 25 in the fourth and they cruised to the 108-85 win to book in their Grand Final spot.

Donovan Mitchell was a man on a mission for the Rollers just as he was in the fourth quarter and overtime the previous week to help them out of danger against the Logan Thunder. 

He finished with 35 points, nine rebounds and three assists on shooting 14/21 from the floor and 4/7 from three-point range.

Tanner Krebs delivered another 19 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and four steals, Jason Cadee 17 points, 13 assists, four rebounds and four steals, and Devon Sullivan 15 points and 10 boards.

Keanu Pinder put up 27 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks in the season-ending loss for the Wizards with Lual Diing adding 19 points, six rebounds and two assists.

However, as a team the Wizards shot 3/34 from three-point land and that was never going to give them a chance with Diing, Anthony Drmic, Javaan Mumtaz and DeShawn Ross-Palwan combining for 0/22.

Despite his rough shooting night, Drmic still had 11 points, six assists and five rebounds with Kevin White hitting two of their three triples for the game on his way to eight points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals.

USC RIP CITY 90 defeated CAIRNS MARLINS 63

The other place in the NBL1 North Grand Final Series went on the line with USC Rip City hosting the Cairns Marlins at USC Sports Stadium on Saturday night.

With plenty of NBL talent on either side with Rip City led by Sydney Kings signing Kouat Noi while featuring Kings' championship winner Wani Swaka Lo Buluk along with Isaih Tueta who has NBL experience as a point guard.

The Marlins weren’t short on talent either featuring Cairns Taipans pair Ben Ayre and Lat Mayen along with Brisbane Bullets new arrival Kody Stattman while Deba George has also spent time in the Snakes set up previously.

USC had finished the regular season in third position at 13-6 before beating the Darwin Salties in the quarter finals while Cairns finished fourth and defeated the Ipswich Force to set up their semi-final battle with Rip City.

It was Rip City who worked their way on by the end of the first quarter thanks to a 7-0 run that was in response to an earlier streak of eight straight points from the visitors.

USC led 23-17 by quarter-time before pushing that advantage out further in the second term to build a double-figure lead and to be on top 40-32 still by the half-time break.

The Marlins were able to retain tough by three quarter-time to still be down just eight, but it was all Rip City in the fourth term as they piled on 29 points and held Cairns to just 10 to end up winning 90-63 to go into the Grand Final Series full of confidence.

Kouat Noi did a lot of talking pre-match and backed it up by delivering 32 points, 19 rebounds, three assists and three steals in the win for USC on the back of shooting 12/20 from the floor and 6/8 at the foul line.

Eric McAlister added 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists for Rip City, Isaih Tueta 16 points and 10 assists, Verle Williams nine points and three rebounds, and Wani Swaka Lo Buluk eight points.

Ben Ayre put up 24 points and six rebounds for Cairns while Lat Mayen contributed 14 points and six boards, and Kody Stattmann eight points, six rebounds and three steals.