NBL1 North Round 11 Sunday men’s recap

Catch up on the Round 11 action from the NBL1 North men’s competition on Sunday.

Townsville Heat 74 def by Cairns Marlins 90

Cairns Marlins picked up their third straight win with a 90-74 victory over North Queensland rival Townsville Heat at Townsville StarFM Stadium on Sunday.

The fifth-placed Marlins (7-4) stay in touch with the top four, one win back from the third and fourth placed Mackay (8-4) and Townsville (8-4).

Cairns forward Majok Deng scored a team-high 23 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to claim a double double.

Deng and Marlins teammate Alex Loughton (22 points) combined for half of the Marlins points. They were joined by Deba George (10 points), Anthony Fisher (10 points), and James Mitchell (10 points) in double figures.

Townsville’s Sam Froling scored a game-high 30 points. The Heat centre also grabbed 11 rebounds and was joined by Josh Spiers (10 points, 11 rebounds) with a double double.

USC Rip City  def Northside Wizards

USC Rip City climbed back into the top eight with an 89-74 victory over Northside Wizards at USC Sports Stadium on Sunday.

Rip City (7-6) sit in seventh place with back-to-back wins in Round 11 while Northside (6-6) slip to ninth after the crucial clash.

USC’s Tanner Krebs (pictured) scored a game-high 33 points and grabbed 10 boards for a double double.

The Rip City forward scored 13 points, including a couple of traditional threes and an old-fashioned three, in the third quarter which helped USC outscore Northside 29-14 and set up the win.

Josh Tueta (15 points), Isaih Tueta (13 points), Eric McAlister (11 points) also scored in double figures for the home side. USC guard Kyle Zunic added nine points and 12 rebounds.

Mitch McCarron top scored for the visitors with 21 points and he was joined by Jesse Ghee (13 points) and Atem (11 points) in double figures.