National Finals Recap | Men Day 1

Image credit: EDITS.BY.KP

Derek Emelifeonwu hit the game winner to open NBL1 National Finals for Canberra Gunners over Sandringham Sabres before Johny Narkle again starred for Geraldton Buccaneers as did Tamuri Wigness for Southern Districts Spartans.

Canberra Gunners (99) defeated Sandringham Sabres (98)

The men's action at the NBL1 National Finals opened up with a thriller and in the end it was a trademark mid-range jumper from Derek Emelifeonwu that delivered the Canberra Gunners the 99-98 win over the Sandringham Sabres.

Both teams were coming off stirring championship victories to close their conference seasons setting up a fascinating contest to open up the National Finals in Canberra on Friday.

Canberra made up for losing last year's NBL1 East Grand Final by beating the Illawarra Hawks in a tremendous contest two weeks to book in their appearance at the National Finals where they would have their full squad available.

Sandringham then came from fifth at the end of the NBL1 South regular season to beat the Hobart Chargers, Eltham Wildcats and Mount Gambier Pioneers on the way to the Grand Final against the Melbourne Tigers.

They ended up prevailing by 19 points for the championship triumph but arrived in Canberra without the services of Ben Ayre, Fabijan Krslovic, Dane Pineau and CJ Asuncion-Byrd.

Both teams had their turns with a five-point lead in the first quarter but by quarter-time it was Sandringham narrowly leaving 24-22.

Things remained tight leading into half-time and at the break it was all locked away at 51-51 with Canberra shooting 19/43 from the field and 9/20 from deep, and Sandringham 19/34 overall and 5/10 from three-point range.

Sandringham were the first team to make a break and open up a 10-point lead early in the fourth quarter after three-point bombs to Tom Koppens and Malith Machar.

Canberra were able to work back into the contest, though and with 1:30 to go Will Mayfield completed a three-point play to bring it back to a one-point game.

Sammy Cartwright then responded for Sandringham but then it was Derek Emilefeonwu time and he made the last two buckets of the game including a trademark mid-range jumper that put his team up one in the dying seconds to go that delivered the victory.

Will Mayfield finished with 22 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals in the win for the Gunners with Derek Emelifeonwu ending up with 20 points with 9/15 field goal shooting.

Glenn Morison also produced another 17 points, 10 rebounds and four assists with Cameron Pender providing 15 points, two boards and two assists, and Edwards Bigg-Wither 12 points on 4/4 three-point shooting.

It was an under strength Sabres but they still put up a tremendous fight and even had on the urging of Tasmania JackJumpers guard Ben Ayre from the sidelines who wasn’t suiting up for them.

Elliott Brown finished with 28 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for Sandringham while championship captain and Grand Final MVP Tom Koppens had 25 points, eight boards and three assists with 11/15 shooting.

Malith Machar also had 17 points and four rebounds, and playing-coach Dave Barlow eight points and nine rebounds before fouling out.

CANBERRA GUNNERS 99 (Mayfield 22, Emelifeonwu 20, Morison 17)

SANDRINGHAM SABRES 98 (Brown 28, Koppens 25, Machar 17)

Geraldton Buccaneers (96) defeated West Adelaide Bearcats (71)

New Illawarra Hawk Johny Narkle continued his hot form with the Geraldton Buccaneers with another 29 points as the NBL1 West champions beat the shorthanded West Adelaide Bearcats 96-71 to open the National Finals.

Only six days ago did the Buccaneers produced a tremendous NBL1 West Grand Final performance at RAC Arena for the championship by beating the Warwick Senators with Narkle the standout player on the court to win a second Grand Final MVP award.

He is also in Canberra as part of the Illawarra Hawks ahead of NBL26 this week, but was allowed to continue suiting up for the Buccaneers who came into the National Finals with a full squad available aside from three-time championship hero Liam Hunt who hurt a knee back on Saturday night.

They were taking on a West Adelaide team who produced a tremendous finish to the NBL1 Central season to win the Grand Final at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre two weeks ago, but their side was decimated from the one that won that title.

The Bearcats arrived in Canberra without the services of Lat Mayen, Keanu Rasmussen, Cameron Huefner and Jacob Tryon so they were always going to be facing an uphill battle against Geraldton.

It didn’t take long for the Buccaneers to work on top opening up a 13-point lead in the first quarter and to be on top 27-15 by the end of one thanks to shooting 11/20 from the field to the 6/20 from the Bearcats.

West Adelaide did well to stem the tide in the second quarter and limit Geraldton's lead to 46-36 by half-time and then the Buccs had only extended that by a further five in the third term.

However, in the fourth the greater depth of the Buccaneers came through as they put up 27 points to 17 to score the 25-point victory and do their chances of a first National Finals championship no harm at all.

The Buccs had a hot offensive performance with 56 per cent field goal shooting to just 41 from West Adelaide while they forced the Bearcats into 20 turnovers for the contest.

Coming off a second Grand Final MVP with the Buccaneers on Saturday night and then even playing with the Illawarra Hawks as part of the NBL Blitz on Wednesday, Johny Narkle once again sparkled in the win Geraldton.

He finished with 29 points, five rebounds and two assists on 11/17 shooting from the field with Joshua Keyes adding 18 points, six rebounds, two assists and two blocks, and Akeem Springs 13 points, two assists and two steals.

Ryan Blanchett stepped into the starting role in the absence of Liam Hunt and had 11 points and five rebounds on perfect 5/5 shooting with Verle Williams dishing out 16 assists to go with six points, four rebounds and four steals.

Carter Truslove delivered 18 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals for West Adelaide with Joel Spear adding 14 points, three boards, three assists and two steals, and Riley Real 13 points and four rebounds.

GERALDTON BUCCANEERS 96 (Narkle 29, Keyes 18, Springs 13)

WEST ADELAIDE BEARCATS 71 (Truslove 18, Spear 14, Real 13)

Illawarra Hawks (86) lost to Southern Districts Spartans (95)

Tamuri Wigness continued his hot form that saw him lead the Southern Districts Spartans to the NBL1 North championship and now he guided them to the 95-86 win over the Illawarra Hawks to open the National Finals.

The Spartans ended up beating the Brisbane Capitals in two games in the NBL1 North Grand Final Series two weeks ago with Wigness the star of that championship triumph to be named the MVP on the back of his performances.

Southern Districts did arrive in Canberra without Matt Hodgson but were at full strength aside from the experienced former NBL centre while the Hawks had a different road to the National Finals.

Illawarra made the NBL1 East Grand Final only to lose a tremendous contest to the Canberra Gunners, but when the two-time defending champion Knox Raiders were unable to take their place this year, it was the Hawks who filled the void.

Illawarra were without Todd Blanchfield who had a game to play at the NBL Blitz later in the evening with the Illawarra Hawks but had the rest of their Grand Final team available including Kobe McDowell-White.

Even though Southern Districts opened up a 10-point lead during the first quarter, Illawarra fired back with a 9-0 run and by quarter-time the Spartans were just clinging to the 26-25 lead.

The Hawks then put up 29 points to 27 in the second quarter to see them head into the half-time break leading 54-53 on the back of shooting 22/48 from the field with 9/25 from deep while the Spartans went 16/20 at the foul line with 16/34 from the floor.

It was in the third quarter where Southern Districts got on top with 20 points to 11 before pushing that out to a 12-point advantage in the fourth term on the way to the eventual nine-point victory.

The Spartans ended up shooting 45 per cent from the field to 37 but they did their damage at the foul line going 27/35 while the Hawks got up 27 more three-point attempts and went 12/49.

Tamuri Wigness was outstanding once again for the Spartans with 33 points, five rebounds and four assists with 12/20 field goal shooting while going 4/9 from three-point range and 5/9 at the foul line.

Blake Jones also had 22 points, 14 rebounds, three steals and two assists, Max Kerle 14 points and three boards, and Jean-Luc Morel 12 points, 13 rebounds and two assists.

Kobe McDowell-White did all he could to give Illawarra a chance in the contest with 22 points, 13 assists, six rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots.

Christian Maran added 17 points, eight rebounds and three assists, Kyle Leslie 16 points, 10 boards, three assists and two steals, Matthew Mims 15 points, five rebounds and five steals, and Lachlan Dent 14 points, three steals and two boards.

ILLAWARRA HAWKS 86 (McDowell-White 22, Maran 17, Leslie 16)

SOUTHERN DISTRICTS SPARTANS 95 (Wigness 33, Jones 22, Kerle 14)