Trist and Purchase awarded first Co-MVP

Frankston’s Daniel Trist and Melbourne’s Jack Purchase have been named Co-MVPs of the 2023 NBL1 South MVP. 

Referees and coaches made their votes after each game across the 22 regular season Rounds of NBL1 South. 

For the season Trist averaged 20 points and 11.5 rebounds for the Blues, finishing the season in the Semi-Finals, where they lost to the Diamond Valley Eagles.

Purchase’s Tigers finished 12th on the ladder, only two wins away from the eighth seed. The NBL veteran averaged 21.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists for the season. 

Purchase said that he never expected to win the MVP after returning home to play for the Tigers. 

"Basketball has taken me a lot of places around the world and to just come back to the Tigers, where it all started for me, has been great," he said. 

"Playing for Andrew (Gaze) again has been unbelievable, he's been a big help in my career. Just coming home and playing for the club that my dad played for, it's been great." 

Joining Trist and Purachse on the NBL1 South All-Star Five is Brisbane Bullet Gabe Hadley, SE Melbourne Phoenix guard Ben Ayre and star import Tyler Rudolph. 

Watch the NBL1 South Grand Final featuring Ben Ayre tomorrow, with the women’s starting from 5:00pm and with the men’s following at 8:00pm AEST Live & Free via Kayo Freebies.