NBL1 South Recap | Saturday Men's Week 1 Finals

The Bendigo Braves and Frankston Blues extended their NBL1 South Men's seasons with elimination final wins on Saturday night while the Hobart Chargers joined the Mount Gambier Pioneers as hosts of the preliminary finals.

The NBL1 South Men's finals series got underway on Friday night with a qualifying final match up at The Ice House which saw the Mount Gambier Pioneers beat the Kilsyth Cobras to earn the right to host a preliminary final next weekend.

The rest of the Week 1 finals action then took place on Saturday night with the other qualifying final seeing the Hobart Chargers play host to the Sandringham Sabres.

It was a tough grind of an affair, but in the end the regular season champion Chargers defeated the Sabres 73-55 to now host a preliminary final while Sandringham has a second chance by being at home for a semi-final.

Jarred Bairstow put up 18 points and 10 rebounds in the win for the Chargers with Sam McDaniel adding 14 points and 11 boards, and Harry Froling 13 points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

Tohi Smith-Milner finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Sabres who sorely missed the presence of Shea Ili.

The other two finals that took place on Saturday night were elimination final affairs with Red Energy Arena on fire with a huge crowd on hand to provide a raucous atmosphere as the Bendigo Braves ended up prevailing 109-102 against the Knox Raiders.

Malcolm Bernard returned from a hamstring injury for the Braves to be brilliant with 30 points, nine assists, five steals and four rebounds with Kuany Kuany adding 22 points, 10 boards and four assists.

Adam Gibson turned it on for a Raiders team minus Reuben Te Rangi with 28 points and seven rebounds with Alex Robinson delivering 26 points and 14 assists.

The other elimination final saw the Frankston Blues flex their muscles and take full advantage of a below strength Geelong Supercats to keep their season alive with the 87-57 victory.

Alister Macdonald lit it up for eight three-pointers on his way to 24 points for Frankston with Dillon Stith spectacular with 23 points and eight rebounds.

The Supercats sorely missed Gabe Hadley and Owen Odigie but got 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals from Matthew Johns.

That all means that the semi finals get underway next Friday night with the Kilsyth Cobras playing the Bendigo Braves, and the Sandringham Sabres at home to the Frankston Blues.

The winners of those will take on the Hobart Chargers and Mount Gambier Pioneers on Sunday in the preliminary finals with spots in the Grand Final for 2022 on the line.

NBL1 SOUTH – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
WEEK 1 FINALS – SATURDAY NIGHT

ELIMINATION FINALS
BENDIGO BRAVES 109 defeated KNOX RAIDERS 102

A jam packed Red Energy Arena provided a brilliant backdrop for quite the dramatic evening in the NBL1 South with the Bendigo Braves and Knox Raiders putting their seasons on the line.

The Braves and Raiders did battle in an elimination final on Saturday night in front of a jam packed and rowdy Bendigo crowd, and they were treated to quite the spectacle with the seasons of both teams on the line.

Bendigo came into the clash having finished their first season under the coaching of Stephen Black in sixth position with a 13-9 record while Knox weren't far behind in seventh at 12-10.

While the Raiders were without Tall Blacks and South East Melbourne Phoenix star Reuben Te Rangi, it always loomed as being a tantalising match up and it certainly didn’t disappoint.

It was the visiting Raiders who started the better by finishing the first quarter on a 9-0 run to lead 31-21 by quarter-time.

Bendigo turned things back around in the second quarter with their own 7-0 scoring streak to grab the lead. However, Knox was narrowly back on top and went into the half-time break leading 50-48.

The seesaw ride continued with the Braves able to open up a nine-point lead during the third quarter but Knox responded in the fourth term and after 460-game NBL veteran Adam Gibson hit a massive three with three minutes to go, they were back in front.

Gibson then hit a second monster triple to extend the Raiders lead to five with two minutes on the clock and an Alex Robinson free-throw put them up six.

However, Bendigo had the crowd behind them and weren’t going to go down without a fight and Mitch Clarke hit a pair of free-throws and then Malcolm Bernard marked his return by turning hero with a late three-point bomb to force the game into overtime.

Then in the extra period, it was all the Braves who built on that momentum to outscore the Raiders 15 points to eight to end up winning 109-102 to advance to the semi finals and end the season of the Raiders.

Malcolm Bernard made a spectacular return from a hamstring injury for Bendigo with 30 points, nine assists, five steals and four rebounds on shooting 11/23 from the floor and 7/13 at the free-throw line.

Kuany Kuany came up huge too for the Braves with 22 points, 10 rebounds and four assists with Isaac Murphy contributing 17 points, four rebounds and three steals, and two-time NBL1 West championship winning point guard Mitch Clarke 14 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Sidy Djitte added 10 points and seven rebounds, and Luke Rosendale nine points and four boards.

Adam Gibson might be now officially retired from the NBL after 460 games, but he's still quite the competitive beast and he delivered 28 points and seven rebounds on the back of a stunning 8/11 from three-point land for the Raiders.

Alex Robinson added 26 points, 14 assists and eight rebounds for Knox, Deng Acouth 15 points, eight boards and four blocked shots, Dylan Hare nine points, five rebounds and five assists, and Austin Shelley nine points.

 

FRANKSTON BLUES 87 defeated GEELONG SUPERCATS 57

The Geelong Supercats might have arrived a wounded outfit, but the Frankston Blues still had to take care of business and they did so impressively to beat win Saturday night's elimination final by 30 points.

The Blues and Supercats locked horns at Frankston Basketball Stadium with their seasons on the line on Saturday night to open up the NBL1 South finals series.

Frankston finished the regular season in fifth position to earn home court advantage for the encounter with a 14-8 record while Geelong ended up eighth at 12-10 to sneak into the playoffs for another year.

However, the Supercats arrived on Saturday night without Owen Odigie and Gabe Hadley while Isaac Turner never looked close to 100 per cent healthy throughout the evening, and was able to only play just over 14 minutes.

As a result, Frankston got on top early on their sold out home court and never looked back. The Blues put up 25 points to 14 in the opening quarter, and then blew the Supercats right off the court in the second term.

Frankston went on an 18-0 scoring run and Geelong had no answers for it with the Blues' lead growing to as much as 25 points with the home team leading 43-20 by half-time.

Geelong did show some signs of life in the third quarter and even outscored Frankston 27 points to 19, but they couldn’t keep it up with the Blues then delivering 25 points to 10 in the fourth period to end up winning 87-57.

Frankston now advances to a semi-final match up with the Sandringham Sabres while a season that promised so much for the Supercats is over with Hadley, Odigie and Jack White all not there on Saturday night.

Alister Macdonald had a stunning shooting night for Frankston knocking down 8/14 from beyond the three-point line for 24 points.

Dillon Stith added 23 points and eight rebounds on 11/14 shooting for the Blues with Lucas Barker contributing 11 points, eight boards, eight assists and four steals.

Igor Hadziomerovic also had nine points, six rebounds and five assists, Adrio Bailey nine points and four boards, and Daniel Trist eight points and 13 rebounds.

Matthew Johns ended up top-scoring for Geelong with 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals with Jasper Cheney contributing 12 points and two steals, and Demarcus Gatlin 11 points and six rebounds.

 

QUALIFYING FINAL
HOBART CHARGERS 73 defeated SANDRINGHAM SABRES 55

The Hobart Chargers attempted to capitalise on their regular season championship in the NBL1 South by playing host to the Sandringham Sabres in a qualifying final on Saturday night.

The rights to host a preliminary final in the NBL1 South went on the line when the Chargers hosted the Sabres at Southern Tasmania Netball Centre on Saturday night.

Hobart ended the regular season in top spot with a 17-5 record to ensure home court advantage throughout the playoffs while the Sabres did earn themselves a double chance with the fourth place finish and 16-6 record.

However, Sandringham's hopes weren’t helped with the absence of New Zealand duo Shea Ili and Dion Prewster which made the job even more challenging on the road to the regular season champion Chargers.

The Chargers did make a flying start opening up an early nine-point lead before Sandringham warmed up to the challenge and went on their own 6-0 scoring streak to trail by only a point at quarter-time.

The Chargers flexed their muscles in the second quarter, though, and delivered 24 points to 12 including putting together a run of 12 consecutive points to open up a 15-point lead, and to still be on top 41-28 by the half-time break.

Hobart was able to consolidate that advantage throughout the second half to turn it into a 73-55 victory to see them now hosting the preliminary final and awaiting the winner of the semi-final between Kilsyth and Bendigo.

Sandringham has a second chance to book in a spot in the preliminary finals by hosting the Frankston Blues on Friday night.

It was a dominant rebounding performance from Hobart as they pulled down 58 boards to 37 from Sandringham which proved the major difference in the contest.

Jarred Bairstow delivered 18 points and 10 rebounds for Hobart with Sam McDaniel contributing 14 points and 11 boards, AJ Harris 13 points, three rebounds and three steals, and Harry Froling 13 points, 10 boards and five assists.

Tohi Smith-Milner ended up top-scoring for Sandringham in the absence of Shea Ili and Dion Prewster, finishing with 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

Nick Gabsch added 14 points and five rebounds for the Sabres, Tom Wright 10 points and two boards, and David Okwera four points and six rebounds.