NBL1 North Recap | Friday Semi Finals

Todd Blanchfield, Jason Cadee, Lamar Patterson and Kai Woodfall all delivered in Friday night's NBL1 North semi-final but the Gold Coast Rollers had too much for the South West Metro Pirates to be the first team into the 2023 Grand Final Series.

The first of the NBL1 North men's semi finals took place on Friday night with the Gold Coast Rollers beating the South West Metro Pirates 108-95.

The other semi-final will now take place on Saturday between the Logan Thunder and Ipswich Force to determine who plays Gold Coast in next week's Grand Final Series.

The women's semi finals features the Northside Wizards up against the South West Metro Pirates while the Logan Thunder play the Rockhampton Cyclones.

NBL1 NORTH RECAP | QUARTER FINALS

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Rollers overpower Pirates to reach Grand Final

The defending champion Gold Coast Rollers are the first team into the 2023 NBL1 North Grand Final Series with the one-two punch of Todd Blanchfield and Jason Cadee leading them to the 108-95 semi-final win against the South West Metro Pirates.

It always loomed as a tantalising match up with a spot in the Grand Final Series on the line especially with former Gold Coast player Lamar Patterson leading the charge for the Pirates up against his team from last year.

Gold Coast again finished the regular season in top spot at 17-2 before being pushed to the limit in a Grand Final rematch last week eventually beating USC Rip City 99-96 to remain at home for Friday's semi-final.

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Watch the #NBL1NorthFinals Game of the Week Live & Free on @kayosports Freebies ? pic.twitter.com/P8VNe7kOJV

— NBL1 (@NBL1) July 28, 2023

South West Metro ended the season in fourth spot before beating the Mackay Meteors by 22 last week to book in their place in the semi finals.

Gold Coast started the game strongly going on a 13-0 run in the first quarter and then going into quarter-time on top 27-15.

The Rollers were able to push their lead out to as much as 20 points in the second quarter before going into the half-time break on top 57-44.

The closest the Pirates were able to get was within seven in the third period and within eight in the fourth, but they couldn’t quite get any closer with Gold Coast hitting all the big shots when it mattered to win by 13 to earn a chance at back-to-back championships.

The stars all came up huge in the win for the Rollers with Todd Blanchfield outstanding ahead of his return to the Illawarra Hawks for NBL24. He finished with 32 points and 16 rebounds including hitting 6/15 from three-point range.

Reigning MVP and captain Jason Cadee also had 22 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds and three steals for Gold Coast with Cameron Thew contributing 21 points, eight boards and five blocks, Preston Le Gassick 19 points, five assists and four rebounds, and Jaryd Eustace 10 points, three boards and two assists.

Lamar Patterson put in a huge performance despite the loss for South West Metro finishing with 30 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals on 13/26 shooting from the floor.

Kai Woodfall added 21 points, six rebounds and five assists with 4/12 three-point shooting while Ben Volkman added 13 points and nine boards, Brendan Teys 11 points, four assists and three rebounds, and Jeremy McLaughlin nine points, four boards and two assists.

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NBL veteran Todd Blanchfield led the way with a huge 32 point, 16 rebound double-double, including 6?? triples ?

Watch the #NBL1NorthFinals Game of the Week Live & Free on @kayosports Freebies ? pic.twitter.com/JzbKFcB5uz

— NBL1 (@NBL1) July 28, 2023