NBL1 South Recap | Saturday Men's Round 2

There were Saturday night wins for the Geelong Supercats, Waverley Falcons, Nunawading Spectres, North West Tasmania Thunder, Ballarat Miners, Diamond Valley Eagles, Kilsyth Cobras and Mount Gambier Pioneers in Round 2 of the NBL1 South Men's competition.

Round 2 in the NBL1 South Men's competition got underway on Friday night with the Hobart Chargers finishing strongly at home to defeat the Keilor Thunder 89-83.

Then on Saturday night, it was a crushing 110-59 victory for the Geelong Supercats against the Ringwood Hawks at The Geelong Arena. Gabriel Hadley put up 19 points for the Supercats with Robert Heath top-scoring for the Hawks with 11 points.

It was a thriller at the State Basketball Centre with the Waverley Falcons beating the Knox Raiders 94-90. The experienced Dan Dillon starred in the win for Waverley with 26 points while Alex Robinson had 25 points for the Raiders.

The Nunawading Spectres also beat the Dandenong Rangers 81-75 in a tight one at Nunawading Basketball Centre. Courtney Asuncion delivered 19 points for the Spectres and Kingsley Box 18 with Jacob Davison putting up 23 points for the Rangers.

The North West Tasmania Thunder scored a 77-62 victory against the Keilor Thunder at Ulverstone Sports and Leisure Centre with KaVaughn Scott scoring 22 points. Jacob Lampkin had 16 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the Thunder.

The Ballarat Miners had an impressive 99-78 win also on Saturday night against the Eltham Wildcats at Selkirk Stadium. Reigning NBL1 West MVP Nic Pozoglou put up 18 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in the win while Mitchell Dance had 21 points for the Wildcats.

The Diamond Valley Eagles earned a hard earned 71-62 victory against the Sandringham Sabres at Community Bank Stadium. Ngor Manyang top-scored with 21 points for the Eagles while Tohi Smith-Milner had 28 points for the Sabres.

The Kilsyth Cobras also defeated the Casey Cavaliers 73-66 at Kilsyth Sports Centre with Ben Ursich delivering 20 points in the win while Matthew Donlan scoring 23 points for the Cavs.

The Mount Gambier Pioneers scored the 100-91 home win against the Frankston Blues at The Ice House. Michael Harris delivered 30 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists for the Pioneers with Lachlan Barker putting up 33 points for the Blues.

Round 2 now wraps up on Sunday afternoon with the Bendigo Braves hosting the Geelong Supercats with the Melbourne Tigers playing the Etham Wildcats and the Sandringham Sabres at home to the Ballarat Miners.

NBL1 SOUTH – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 2 – SATURDAY NIGHT

GEELONG SUPERCATS 110 defeated RINGWOOD HAWKS 59

The Geelong Supercats had a night out on their home floor on Saturday to score a big win over the Ringwood Hawks.

The Supercats started their season with a thrilling road win over the Ballarat Miners and then brought that momentum with them on Saturday night at The Geelong Arena.

The Ringwood Hawks had won their opening two games last weekend too but Geelong was just on fire from the outset putting up 26 points to 12 in the opening quarter.

The Supercats added 21 more points to 16 in the second period, 24 to 15 in the third and then finally a massive 39 to 16 in the fourth on the way to the emphatic and impressive 110-59 win.

Geelong shot 51.3 per cent as a team with Gabriel Hadley putting up 27 points on 11/15 himself.

Isaac Turner added 26 points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists with Demarcus Gatlin adding 13 points and seven rebounds, Owen Odigie nine points and nine boards, Jay Posterino eight points, and George Blagojevic eight points, six rebounds and four assists.

Robert Heath put up 14 points and five rebounds for Ringwood fresh off playing for the Cairns Taipans this NBL season. Shaun Clarke added 13 points and eight rebounds, and Trevor Latham 10 points and four boards.

 

KNOX RAIDERS 90 lost to WAVERLEY FALCONS 94

The Knox Raiders and Waverley Falcons played out a thriller on Saturday night at the State Basketball Centre.

Former NBL pair Dan Dillon and Bennie Lewis, and then Durrell McDonald were the ones to step up with the game on the line to deliver the eventual win for the Falcons.

The Raiders started well on their home floor with 29 points to 19 in the first quarter but then Falcons responded well in the second period with 30 points to 18 and they held a narrow 49-47 lead at half-time.

It was always a game destined to go down to the wire even after another Waverley player with NBL experience, Dexter Kernich-Drew hit a three to put them up eight with five minutes to go.

Five quick points for Knox to Alex Robinson made it a close game again but in the end big buckets from Dillon, Lewis and McDonald sealed the 94-90 win for Waverley.

Dan Dillon put up 26 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Falcons with Bennie Lewis contributing 19 points and four rebounds, Dexter Kernich-Drew 14 points, six boards and six assists, and Tristan Forsyth 10 points, and six rebounds.

Alex Robinson top-scored for Knox with 25 points, five rebounds and five assists with Jacob Foy contributing 19 points and five boards, Bailey Nunn 10 points and four rebounds, and Matt Berkec 15 points.

 

NUNAWADING SPECTRES 81 defeated DANDENONG RANGERS 75

The Nunawading Spectres were able to fire up in the third quarter to set up their Saturday night home win against the Dandenong Rangers.

The Spectres opened the season with a hard earned win over the Eltham Wildcats while the Rangers defeated the Casey Cavaliers setting up Saturday night's contest at Nunawading Basketball Centre.

The Rangers started strongly with 21 points to 13 in the opening period but the Spectres fought back in the second with 20 points to 16.

Nunawading was then able to set up the win in the third quarter with 32 points to 21 to end up winning 81-75.

Courtney Asuncion top-scored for the Spectres with 19 points and four rebound with Kingsley Box contributing 18 points, Jordan Geer 10 points, five rebounds and four assists, Callum Barker 10 points and six boards, and Jack Gandolfo eight points, 10 assists and four rebounds.

Jacob Davison top-scored for the Rangers with 23 points and seven rebounds with Declan Soukup adding 15 points and four boards, Dyson King-Hawea 15 points, eight boards and five assists, and Deng Puoch 10 points.

 

BALLARAT MINERS 99 defeated ELTHAM WILDCATS 78

The Ballarat Miners bounced back from a heartbreaking opening night loss to beat the Eltham Wildcats at home on Saturday night.

The Miners hosted the Geelong Supercats last Saturday night and lost a heartbreaker 98-96 with the Wildcats coming into the game having lost first up as well to the Nunawading Spectres.

The two teams then locked horns on Saturday night at Selkirk Stadium with the Wildcats starting impressively to lead 21-16 away from home by quarter-time.

The Miners turned the tide in the second term with 30 points to 18 and that saw them enter half-time leading 46-39.

Ballarat then pulled further away in the third quarter with another 29 points to 12 which set up the eventual 99-78 victory to open their account for 2022.

Last year's NBL1 West MVP Nic Pozoglou has joined Ballarat this season and he delivered 18 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists.

David Crisp added 15 points, Koen Sapwell 15 points, Preston Bungei 13 points and 12 rebounds, and William Hynes 13 points and three assists.

Mitchell Dance top-scored for Eltham with 21 points, six rebounds and three steals with Josh Sykes putting up 13 points and seven boards, and Deng Kuany 11 points and four rebounds.

 

DIAMOND VALLEY EAGLES 71 defeated SANDRINGHAM SABRES 62

Both the Diamond Valley Eagles and Sandringham Sabres came off first up losses into Saturday night's clash at Community Bank Stadium.

The Eagles started well on their home floor with 18 points to 13 in the first quarter and then consolidated that in the second term to head into the half-time break leading 39-32.

Diamond Valley pulled further away in the third quarter with another 19 points to 11 to set up the eventual 71-62 victory to open their account for 2022.

The difference between the teams was the shooting with the Eagles going at 43.3 per cent from the floor opposed to the Sabres going at just 27.6 per cent. That was despite Diamond Valley only going 1/20 from beyond the arc.

Ngor Manyang has been a championship winner out west with the Warwick Senators and has started well this season with Diamond Valley putting up 21 points, six rebounds and two steals.

Matt Reynolds added 14 points, three rebounds and two assists, Joel Capetola 12 points and eight boards, and Dane Pineau 10 points and 19 rebounds fresh off his NBL season at South East Melbourne Phoenix.

Tohi Smith-Milner put up 28 points and seven rebounds for Sandringham, Campbell Blogg 14 points and five boards, and Tom Koppens six points and 13 rebounds.

 

KILSYTH COBRAS 73 defeated CASEY CAVALIERS 66

The Kilsyth Cobras started strongly at home to the Casey Cavaliers on Saturday night and they were able to turn that into a seven-point win.

The Cobras were on their home floor at Kilsyth Sports Centre and started impressively putting up 24 points to 17 in the first quarter.

That proved to be the difference in the game with Kilsyth ending up beating Casey 73-66.

Ben Ursich top-scored for Kilsyth with 20 points while knocking down 4/7 from beyond the arc.

Corey Jeffs added 11 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals, Tim Lang 11 points and five rebounds, Hamish MacDonald nine points, Adrian Tomada nine points and six rebounds, and Trey Moses nine points and five boards.

Matt Donlan put up 23 points and two rebounds for the Cavs with Jordan Bell contributing 15 points and eight boards, and Geremy McKay 11 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals.

 

NORTH WEST TASMANIA THUNDER 77 defeated KEILOR THUNDER 62

The North West Tasmania Thunder made it consecutive home wins to start the 2022 season with a win over Keilor Thunder on Saturday night.

North West Tasmania started the 2022 NBL1 South season beating the Hobart Chargers and were then back at home to host Keilor on Saturday night at Ulverstone Sports and Leisure Centre.

Keilor made the trip for the weekend to the Apple Isle and started on Friday night losing to Hobart and then fell five points behind by quarter-time to North West on Saturday.

The home team then held Keilor to just eight points in the second term to go into the half-time break leading 32-21.

North West finished the job from there in the second half outscoring Keilor 45 points to 41 to take out the 77-62 victory.

KaVaughn Scott put up 22 points and seven rebounds for North West Tasmania with Paul Campbell contributing 16 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and three blocks, Ben Woolley 11 points, three boards and three assists, and Lachlan Brewer 10 points.

Jacob Lampkin produced 16 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Keilor with Tyler Kidd adding 13 points and six assists, Cirkook Riak 11 points, three rebounds and two assists, and Rhyss Lewis 10 points and four rebounds.

 

MT GAMBIER PIONEERS 100 defeated FRANKSTON BLUES 91

The Mount Gambier Pioneers and Frankston Blues both made impressive starts to the season coming into Saturday night's clash at The Ice House.

The Pioneers won first up at home to the Diamond Valley Eagles while also in Round 1, the Blues beat both the Dandenong Rangers and Sandringham Sabres.

That set the stage for a tantalising match up in Round 2 and Frankston started well away from home to lead 23-22 by quarter-time.

They turned that into a 48-45 half-time edge and the Blues were still leading by three at three quarter-time. But the Pioneers then delivered a huge fourth quarter with 29 points to 17 to take out the 100-91 victory as a result.

Michael Harris put up 30 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in the win for Mt Gambier with Nick Marshall delivering 19 points, nine boards, three assists and two blocks following his NBL season at the Adelaide 36ers.

Tom Kubank added 22 points and six rebounds for the Pioneers, Erik Burdon 16 points, and Jordan Rawls 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists.