East Recap | Round 1 Saturday

Bankstown Bruins (52) lost to Norths Bears (79)

The Norths Bears couldn’t quite defend their NBL1 East title in 2024 but have started their 2025 season impressively beating the Bankstown Bruins 79-52 on the road.

The Bruins had a big challenge at home to start the new season at Bankstown Basketball Stadium after a four-win 2024 campaign, and the 2023 champions proved too strong in the finish.

It was a grind with both teams finding their feet in the first half with Bankstown even managing to hold a slender lead 25-24 by the half-time interval.

Norths went up a gear after the break outscoring Bankstown 55 points to 27 in the second half on the way to the eventual 27-point victory.

The biggest difference in the end was Norths ending up with 21/29 at the free-throw line opposed to the 9/11 from the Bruins given the Bears shot just 32.9 per cent from the field opposed to 32.2, and went 6/28 from three-point range up against 5/21.

Sienna Tutani top-scored for the Bruins with 10 points to go with seven rebounds and three steals with Kiahna Davis-White contributing nine points, eight rebounds and three assists, and Shalome Dunlop nine points, six boards and two assists.

BANKSTOWN BRUINS 52 (Tutani 10, Dunlop 9, Davis-White 9)

NORTHS BEARS 79

Sutherland Sharks (46) lost to Penrith Panthers (55)

The Penrith Panthers had an improved 2024 season and will look to put themselves in the finals hunt now in 2025 having started off beating the Sutherland Sharks 55-46.

The Panthers did win seven games last season to show some impressive improvement but it was a big task first up on Saturday against last year's grand finalists even with the Sharks without expectant mother Lauren Nicholson.

Penrith never trailed the entire game opening up a 15-11 advantage by quarter-time before extending that edge to 31-21 by the half-time interval.

The Panthers held on from there for the nine-point victory on the back of pulling down 63 rebounds to 47 in a game where neither team shot well. Penrith went at 23.7 per cent from the field with 3/27 from deep while the Sharks went 25 per cent overall and 7/21 from long-range.

Jordan Vasquez had a big say on the final result for Penrith with 14 points, 17 rebounds and two blocked shots with Serika Shillingsworth chiming in with 15 points, four boards and two assists.

Sofia Hunt also had 10 points and four rebounds with Mia Heide contributing seven points, 11 boards and two assists.

Maddie Norris provided 16 points, six rebounds and two assists on 4/11 three-point shooting for Sutherland while Aliza Fabbro added 11 points, seven assists and four boards, and Jordyn Dewhurst seven points and three rebounds.

SUTHERLAND SHARKS 46 (Norris 16, Fabbro 11, Dewhurst 7)

PENRITH PANTHERS 55 (Shillingsworth 15, Vasquez 14, Hunt 10)

Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders (90) defeated Central Coast Crusaders (79)

The Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders have made the perfect start to their 2025 season with rising star Jessie-May Hall leading the charge in the 90-79 home victory over the Central Coast Crusaders.

After losing the first five games of last season, the Spiders did show signs of rapid improvement with a four-game winning streak and now they have opened up the new campaign impressively at The Brickpit against a Crusaders team who made finals in 2024.

Central Coast reached the semi finals last season and they did open the game on Saturday well enough to be leading 19-17 by the end of the first quarter.

The Spiders managed to get rolling in the second quarter with 27 points to 21 and then they pulled away further in the final period with 25 points to 18 on the way to the eventual 11-point victory.

The Crusaders had a good three-point shooting game going 14/33 from downtown including Leilani Mitchell making 6/12 and Elizajane Loader 4/9, but Hornsby shot better overall going at 49.3 per cent.

Jessie-May Hall was the star of the victory for the Spiders with the 17-year-old delivering 20 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Lucy Mead added 19 points on 3/4 three-point shooting with Ay-Anna Bey contributing 15 points and nine rebounds, and Keira Hudson 11 points, five assists and four boards.

Leilani Mitchell knocked down those six three-pointers for 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists for Central Coast with Elizajane Loader adding 18 points, eight boards, four steals and three assists, and Mikaela Dombkins 15 points, seven assists and five rebounds.

HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 90 (Hall 20, Mead 19, Bey 15)

CENTRAL COAST CRUSADERS 79 (Mitchell 22, Loader 18, Dombkins 15)

Illawarra Hawks (56) lost to Maitland Mustangs (80)

With both teams having missed finals in 2024, it was a chance to get off on a positive to open the 2025 season and it was the Maitland Mustangs beating the Illawarra Hawks 80-56 with Sydney Hunter producing a dominant performance.

The Hawks missed finals last season with a 9-11 record as did the Mustangs at 5-15 ahead of their season-opening clash on Saturday at The Snakepit after what had been a memorable week for basketball in Wollongong.

Despite being away from home, Maitland made a strong start with 18 points to 11 in the first quarter and once they were on top, they only continued to pull away the rest of the contest.

That lead for the Mustangs grew to as much as 10 points in the second frame, 17 in the third and 24 in the fourth which would end up being the final margin.

Maitland ended up collecting 51 rebounds to 36 in the win including 21 boards at the offensive end to 11 which led to them attempting 19 extra field goals.

Sydney Hunter put together a dominant performance for the Mustangs with 28 points and 13 rebounds on 13/19 shooting with Shakera Reilly adding 18 points, six boards, three steals and two assists.

Hawks captain Ella Dent delivered 23 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two blocks with Asha Phillips contributing 10 points and seven boards.

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 56 (Dent 23, Phillips 10, Gatwood 5)

MAITLAND MUSTANGS 80 (Hunter 28, Reilly 18, Rudder 9, Wawszkowicz 9)

Newcastle Falcons (83) defeated Sydney Comets (51)

The defending champion Newcastle Falcons have made the perfect start to their title defence on their home floor beating the Sydney Comets 83-51.

Newcastle came from finishing fourth last season to end up winning the championship in stirring fashion and they got to open 2025 at home at Newcastle Basketball Stadium to celebrate that triumph.

The team of 2025 backed it up with a strong showing hosting the Comets as well beginning with 27 points to 19 in the opening quarter.

The Falcons turned that into a 44-33 lead by half-time before they outscored Sydney 20 points to nine in the third period, and 19 to nine in the fourth to claim the commanding 32-point victory against a Comets team who narrowly missed finals in 2024.

After leading Newcastle to that championship last season and then spending the WNBL season with the UC Capitals, Nicole Munger picked up right where she left off once more with 18 points, 13 rebounds, six assists and five steals.

Meg Jefferson top-scored for Newcastle with 22 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots as well while Kate Kingham contributed 12 points, three steals, two boards and two assists.

Abi Curtin led the charge despite the loss for the Comets with 17 points and six rebounds with Piper Anderson delivering 16 points and three boards, and Mikayla Pirini eight points, four rebounds and two steals.

NEWCASTLE FALCONS 83 (Jefferson 22, Munger 18, Kingham 12)

SYDNEY COMETS 51 (Curtin 17, Anderson 16, Pirini 8)

Albury-Wodonga Bandits (95) defeated Canberra Nationals (87)

It was a game full of stunning performances but in the end the 10 three-pointers from Riley Lupfer saw the Albury-Wodonga Bandits claim the 95-87 win despite Carlie McAlister (nee Smith) putting up 35 points for the Canberra Nationals.

It has been an off-season of great change at the Bandits following last year's 20-0 regular season that saw their season end in straight sets in the finals with defeats to the Newcastle Falcons and Sutherland Sharks.

Sam McDonald is back on board as coach but has a decidedly new-look playing group at his disposal with Albury-Wodonga while Canberra is also coming into 2025 looking to bounce back from missing the finals in 2024.

The Bandits opened the season at home at Lauren Jackson Sports Centre and started well with 23 points to 17 in the first quarter before continuing to build on that lead with it getting out to as much as 19 points by the final quarter.

Canberra did keep fighting and closed the final margin to eight, but it was still an impressive win for Albury-Wodonga with Riley Lupfer lighting it up hitting 10/14 from downtown on her way to 30 points along with five rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Another new signing, Caitie Jones, also made her NBL1 East debut after starring last year with the Lakeside Lightning in the West and then just completing a season in Germany with Marburg.

She was impressive for the Bandits with 24 points, 11 assists and five rebounds with Brynn Masikewich having 17 points and nine rebounds.

Carlie McAlister put in a monster performance for the Nationals as well despite the loss finishing with 35 points and 18 rebounds on 15/26 shooting from the floor.

Mikala Williams added 13 points and four rebounds, Callie Bourne 13 points, seven assists and four boards, and Abbie Ketels five points, seven rebounds and three steals.

ALBURY-WODONGA BANDITS 95 (Lupfer 30, Jones 24, Masikewich 17)

CANBERRA NATIONALS 87 (McAlister 35, Williams 13, Bourne 13)

MEN

Centre of Excellence (84) defeated Manly Warringah Sea Eagles (56)

Some of the best young talent in the country pulled together to open the season in impressive fashion as the Centre of Excellence beat the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 84-56 at home.

The CoE opened the season at the Australian Institute of Sport playing host to the Sea Eagles and the full depth of their talent was on show with 11 players all playing at least 13 minutes, and 10 of them scoring and every one of them making a contribution in the eventual 28-point win.

The Basketball Australia young guns were on top from the outset with 24 points to 15 in the first quarter before a dominant 29-11 second frame to see them lead 53-26 by half-time.

The CoE maintained their advantage through the second half for the impressive season-opening victory with Jacob Furphy top-scoring with 14 points, four rebounds and four assists with Ajak Nyuon adding 13 points.

Roor Akhuar also had 12 points, four rebounds and two steals, Alex Dickeson 11 points, three boards and three assists, Luke Fennell eight points, three rebounds and three assists, Marcus Vaughns seven points and seven boards, and Che Brogan seven points and four steals.

It was a tough opening to the new season for Manly Warringah with Isaiah Lee the only player to score in double-figures with 11 points and four steals while Preston Purifoy added nine points and three steals, and Eromon Uadiale eight points and four assists.

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE 84 (Furphy 14, Nyuon 13, Akhuar 12)

MANLY WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 56 (Lee 11, Purifoy 9, Uadiale 8)

Bankstown Bruins (86) defeated Norths Bears (70)

The Bankstown Bruins and Norths Bears both missed finals in 2024 and are looking to rectify that in 2025, and it was the Bruins who got off to a winning start with the 86-70 home victory.

Bankstown ended last season with an 11-9 record and Norths 10-10 so they weren’t far away from the finals mix, and now Saturday's season-opener at Bankstown Basketball Stadium was the chance to build some early momentum in 2025.

The Bruins have been boosted with the return of recently retired 424-game NBL great Jason Cadee as well and they were on top most of the evening including being up 20-16 by quarter-time.

The lead for Bankstown then continued to grow and got out to as much as 13 points in the second frame, 22 in the third and 30 in the fourth before the Bears did fire up late to close the final margin to 16.

It was an encouraging first up performance from the Bruins and Cadee marked his return with 10 points, four rebounds and three assists while Charlie McBeath top-scored with 21 points, four rebounds and four assists.

Jonah Tuilata also had 10 points and three rebounds, Gum Majak 10 points, six boards and four blocks, and Hayden Blankley nine points, four rebounds and four assists.

It was a first up loss for the Bears under coach Tom Garlepp despite Hunter Goodrick delivering 24 points, 15 rebounds, five steals and two assists with Matthew Wacher adding 14 points.

BANKSTOWN BRUINS 86 (McBeath 21, Cadee 10, Majak 10, Tuilata 10)

NORTHS BEARS 70 (Goodrick 24, Wacher 14, Mitchell 7)

Sutherland Sharks (81) defeated Penrith Panthers (78)

Lachlan Charlton made a couple of big three-pointers late to keep things interesting but the Sutherland Sharks got their season off to a winning note at home beating the Penrith Panthers 81-78.

After winning the NBL1 East championship back in 2023, the title defence for the Sharks never really got going in 2024 and they ended up missing the finals altogether with an 8-12 record.

Penrith, meanwhile, managed just the one win but the two teams combined to put on quite the show to open the season at Sutherland Basketball Stadium.

Precious little separated the two teams all evening as well with Penrith's six-point lead in the first quarter the biggest of the entire contest.

But by quarter-time it was the Sharks leading by a point before they were still on top by that margin at half-time, and then scores were all square by three quarter-time.

After Lachlan Charlton hit a three with 1:40 to play for Penrith to tie scores up, Sydney Kings NBL big man Jason Spurgin pulled down a huge offensive rebound and scored on the put back to return Sutherland to the lead.

Lochlan Hutchison extended that advantage to four at the foul line but Charlton gave the Panthers a sniff still making it a one-point game again with another triple with just over 20 seconds to play.

Up the other end, Bailey Macarthur made two free throws but the Panthers still had a chance to send the game to overtime only for Brodie Schwarzer's three-point attempt not to fall and Sutherland made a winning start to the season.

Hutchison ended the night with 17 points, six assists and four steals for the Sharks with Macarthur contributing 16 points and three rebounds, and Adrian Cabrera 12 points and three boards.

Spurgin also provided 10 points and 11 rebounds with Geoff Gerlach contributing 10 points and eight boards.

Ben Kearins delivered 15 points, seven rebounds and two assists for Penrith while Lachlan Charlton finished with 13 points, three boards and three steals, and Makur Jongkuch 12 points and two rebounds.

SUTHERLAND SHARKS 81 (Hutchison 17, Macarthur 16, Cabrera 12)

PENRITH PANTHERS 78 (Kearins 15, Charlton 13, Jongkuch 12)

 

Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders (71) lost to Central Coast Crusaders (84)

With Klairus Amir the star of the show, the Central Coast Crusaders started the new NBL1 East season with the 84-71 road victory against the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders.

The two teams combined for just the eight wins from their 40 matches in 2024 so Saturday's match up at The Brickpit presented the chance for one of them to get off to a confidence-boosting start to the new season.

Central Coast began to pull away in the second quarter with 23 points to 16 to go into the half-time intermission with the 49-39 lead.

The Crusaders were able to convert that into an eventual 13-point victory as they finished the night shooting 44.4 per cent from the floor and 9/21 from deep opposed to the 29.2 per cent for the Spiders who went 11/36 from three-point range.

Klairus Amir ended up being the ultimate difference between the two teams with 26 points and seven rebounds including making 4/8 from three-point range.

Lino Manhom added 16 points and eight rebounds for Central Coast while Garric Young produced 15 points, 10 boards, five blocks, four steals and two assists, and Ilisia Washington 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

While it was a first up loss at home for Hornsby, Daniel Titus was impressive with 22 points, five rebounds, four steals and three assists while Steven Hall had 10 points and two assists, Atien Acuel nine points and six rebounds, and Akil Douglas eight points and seven boards.

HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 71 (Titus 22, Hall 10, Acuel 9)

CENTRAL COAST CRUSADERS 84 (Amir 26, Manhom 16, Young 15)

Illawarra Hawks (96) defeated Maitland Mustangs (88)

The winning this week in Wollongong continued with NBL championship winner Todd Blanchfield going for 31 points and 16 rebounds as the Illawarra Hawks beat the defending champion Maitland Mustangs 96-88.

After the Hawks secured the NBL championship back on Sunday with their Game 5 victory against Melbourne United, Blanchfield along with development player teammates Kobe McDowell-White and Brad Ballinger backed up for the NBL1 East season-opener at The Snakepit.

Matt Flinn has also taken over as coach of the Hawks in the NBL1 and it was a big test for his team first up against a Mustangs team fresh off breaking through to win last year's championship.

With scores all tied up after the first quarter, Maitland got on a roll in the second term with 22 points to 16 to head into half-time with the 47-41 advantage.

However, Illawarra fired up in the second half with 25 points to 19 in the third frame, and then 30 to 22 in the fourth to outscore Maitland 55-41 in the second half on the way to the season-opening eight-point victory.

After winning his first NBL championship 441 games into his career, Todd Blanchfield starred for the Hawks with 31 points, 16 rebounds, five blocks and two assists while going 4/13 from three-point range.

Kobe McDowell-White also finished with 20 points, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals for Illawarra with Matthew Mims contributing 16 points, eight boards and six assists, and Brad Ballinger nine points and two rebounds.

It wasn’t the start to their championship defence the Mustangs were after despite Christian Little ending up with 20 points and six assists with Jay Cole contributing 17 points and nine rebounds.

Billy Parsons also had 14 points, four rebounds and two assists for the defending champs, Daniel Millburn 13 points and four boards, and Luka Vea eight points and 12 rebounds.

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 96 (Blanchfield 31, McDowell-White 20, Mims 16)

MAITLAND MUSTANGS 88 (Little 20, Cole 17, Parsons 14)

Newcastle Falcons (67) lost to Sydney Comets (71)

Anthony Mundine III made five three-pointers and scored 23 points to lead the Sydney Comets to a season-opening 71-67 road victory against the Newcastle Falcons.

Both teams fell short of making finals in the NBL1 East last season ahead of opening up 2025 at Newcastle Basketball Stadium and they would put together a fascinating contest.

Newcastle started strongly on their home floor with 24 points to 19 in the first quarter but Sydney fired up in the second period with 23 points to 11 to go into the break on top 42-35.

While the Comets didn’t give up the lead throughout the second half, the Falcons did get back within three points in the final minute of the contest.

However, Anthony Mundine III did make one free-throw in the dying stages to make it a four-point ball game and that secured the eventual victory for Sydney to give them a winning start to the season after only missing the finals by one game in 2024.

Mundine ended up making 5/12 from three-point range on his way to 23 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Comets.

Obi Kyei added 20 points and eight rebounds, Johnny Crnogorac 10 points and two boards, and Viliami Foketi six points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

It wasn’t quite the start Newcastle was after at home with Kobe Shannon top-scoring with 16 points, four steals, three rebounds and three assists with Myles Cherry contributing 14 points and 11 boards.

Ryan Beisty added 14 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and two steals with Eylijah Stephens adding 10 points and four boards.

NEWCASTLE FALCONS 67 (Shannon 16, Beisty 14, Cherry 14)

SYDNEY COMETS 71 (Mundine III 23, Kyei 20, Crnogorac 10)

Albury-Wodonga Bandits (75) lost to Canberra Gunners (96)

Having played in the last two NBL1 East Grand Finals for a win apiece, the Canberra Gunners made a statement of their intentions to start 2025 with the 96-75 road win against the Albury-Wodonga Bandits.

Canberra won the championship back in 2023 and then finished a game clear in top spot last year but fell just short against the Maitland Mustangs in the Grand Final.

However, they were a team on a mission to open the 2025 season heading to Lauren Jackson Sports Centre on Saturday taking on an Albury-Wodonga team having undergone significant change from last year.

Despite that, the Bandits started impressively to lead 23-18 by the end of the first quarter only for the Gunners to take control the rest of the way.

Canberra outscored Albury-Wodonga 27-20 in the second quarter, 28-18 in the third and 23-14 in the fourth to end up leading by as much as 24 points, and winning by 21.

The Gunners lost just three games last year, but one of them was the Grand Final as they started in impressive fashion in 2025 to try and reach a third successive NBL1 East decider.

Will Mayfield delivered 23 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals in the win for Canberra on 5/9 three-point shooting with Glenn Morison contributing 22 points, eight boards and three assists.

Brooklyn Bruton added 17 points on 3/5 shooting from deep with James Toohey delivering 12 points, four rebounds and two steals.

Matthew Gray ended up with 22 points, seven rebounds and three steals with 6/9 shooting from long range for Albury-Wodonga with Ahren Freeman adding 15 points and seven rebounds, and Jasper Rentoy 11 points and three assists.

ALBURY-WODONGA BANDITS 75 (Gray 22, Freeman 15, Rentoy 11)

CANBERRA GUNNERS 96 (Mayfield 23, Morison 22, Bruton 17)