NW Thunder V Frankston Blues - Game Preview

NORTH-WEST THUNDER GAME PREVIEW - By Brad Cole

The North-West Thunder will be looking to extend their winning streak to three games at home when they host Frankston in Saturday night’s NBL1 South clash at Ulverstone.

Sam Armstrong’s team got their season back on track with a winning double last weekend, taking down fifth-placed Ballarat on Friday night before a thrilling win over Casey on Saturday in Launceston courtesy of a Sekou Sylla buzzer-beater.

It was an old-fashioned team effort that got the Thunder over the line in an entertaining affair against the Miners, with six players scoring in double figures, led by Tre Armstrong’s 18 points off the bench, while Ben Woolley and Paul Campbell both enjoyed perfect shooting nights.

Saturday night in Launceston against the Cavaliers proved to be more of a grind, with the Thunder trailing slightly for most of the night until a see-sawing final team saw the lead change hands on several occasions.

The result came down to the final play with Sylla (27 points) soaring above the pack to grab the offensive rebound from Armstrong’s missed three-pointer and banking his shot home with 0.1 seconds to spare.

Assisting the result was an impressive night at the free-throw line by the home team, completing 20 of 21 attempts.

Sylla’s productive weekend, which saw him average 21.5 points and 11 rebounds, was rewarded with Footlocker NBL1 South Player of the Week honours.

The pair of victories take the Thunder’s record to 3-4 and puts them in 13th place in what shapes as another extremely competitive NBL1 South season. But they will face a stern test of their credentials against a perennially strong Blues outfit, who are currently seventh on the ladder.

Frankston have assembled another strong squad for its 2024 campaign, led by former North-West Coaster Lachlan Barker, who is coming off an NBL championship with the Tasmania JackJumpers.

While Barker’s prowess from beyond the arc will need to be closely monitored by the hosts, there are several other match-ups that will be worth the price of admission to the Mazda BT-50 Stadium. They include the point guard showdown between Thunder import Seth Swalve and the Blues’ Lucas Barker, while the battle in the paint between the home team’s Sylla and Archie Woodhill against the visitors duo of Daniel Trist and Stokley Chaffee is set to be hotly contested.

Action gets underway at 7.30pm as part of another double-header with the Launceston Tornadoes NBL1 South women’s team, who take on Frankston at 5.30pm. Tickets are available by clicking here.

For those who can’t get to the game, log in to the NBL1 website and watch the live stream.

LEADING PLAYERS

Points – Thunder: Sekou Sylla 21.25ppg, Seth Swalve 14.14ppg, Tre Armstrong 13.57ppg. Blues: Daniel Trist 19.00ppg, Lachlan Barker 15.20ppg, Lucas Barker 14.50ppg, Stokley Chaffee 12.67ppg.

Rebounds – Thunder: Sekou Sylla 14.75rpg, Paul Campbell 5.29rpg, Archie Woodhill 4.86rpg. Blues: Daniel Trist 10.17rpg, Stokley Chaffee 7.83rpg, Klay Brown 5.67rpg.

Assists – Thunder: Seth Swalve 4.86apg, Sekou Sylla 2.5apg, Tre Armstrong 2.14apg, Ben Woolley 2.00apg. Blues: Lucas Barker 6.5apg, Lachlan Barker 2.4apg, Klay Brown 2.17apg.

LAST THREE MEETINGS

2023 – Thunder v Blues 69-75, 2022 – Blues def Thunder 91-59, 2021 – Blues v Thunder 78-86.