NBL1 South Recap | Saturday Men's Round 5

Tohi Smith-Milner hit the game winner for the Sandringham Sabres, DJ Vasiljevic couldn’t quite get the Diamond Valley Eagles over the line and that was just two of the highlights of the Saturday night NBL1 South Men's action.

There were wins on Saturday evening in the NBL1 South competition for the Sandringham Sabres, Bendigo Braves, Frankston Blues, Knox Raiders, North West Tasmania Thunder, Ballarat Miners, Waverley Falcons and Dandenong Rangers.

Round 5 of the NBL1 South Men's season got underway with two matches on Friday night which saw the Geelong Supercats beat the Mout Gambier Pioneers in a thriller 83-82 while the Ringwood Hawks finished brilliantly to beat the Hobart Chargers 91-87.

Then on Saturday evening, it was a nail-biter at Southern Basketball Stadium with the Sandringham Sabres beating the Nunawading Spectres 83-82 on the back of the game winner from South East Melbourne Phoenix forward Tohi Smith-Milner.

The Bendigo Braves were impressive on their home floor to beat the Diamond Valley Eagles 90-74 with Kuany Kuany putting up 24 points. DJ Vasiljevic lined up fresh off his NBL championship win with the Sydney Kings and had 32 points for Diamond Valley.

The Frankston Blues received a combined 46 points and 17 rebounds from Dillon Stith and Daniel Trist in their 101-85 win on Saturday night at home against the Casey Cavaliers. Davo Hickey scored 22 points for the Cavs.

It was a big win at home for the Knox Raiders who defeated the Kilsyth Cobras 98-72 on the back of Alex Robinson, Reuben Te Rangi, Jacob Foy, Deng Acouth, Mason Peatling and Adam Gibson all scoring in double-figures.

The Ringwood Hawks couldn’t quite complete the road double in Tasmania this weekend with the North West Tasmania Thunder winning 80-72. Ben Woolley top-scored for the Thunder with 19 points while Tim Guers put up another 25 points with five triples for Ringwood.

The Ballarat Miners also produced a strong performance at home on Saturday night to defeat the Melbourne Tigers 86-72. Koen Sapwell delivered 33 points for Ballarat with Michael Wearne scoring 21 points for the Tigers.

The Waverley Falcons ended up winning on the road too against the Eltham Wildcats 94-82 on Saturday night. Tristan Forsyth top-scored for Waverley while Owen Foxwell delivered 26 points for Eltham.

The Dandenong Rangers came from behind to beat the Keilor Thunder 80-77. Dyson King-Hawea and Jacob Davison both scored 18 points for the Rangers with Jacob Lampkin finishing with 20 points, 16 rebounds and five assists for Keilor.

Round 5 in the NBL1 South Men's competition wraps up on Sunday afternoon with the Kilsyth Cobras hosting the Dandenong Rangers, the Melbourne Tigers playing the Sandringham Sabres, the Nunawading Spectres at home to Keilor Thunder, and the Waverley Falcons tackling the Ballarat Miners.

NBL1 SOUTH – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 5 – SATURDAY NIGHT

SANDRINGHAM SABRES 83 defeated NUNAWADING SPECTRES 82

It was Tohi Smith-Milner who played the hero for the Sandringham Sabres against the Nunawading Spectres on Saturday night.

The Sabres were hosting the Spectres at Southern Basketball Stadium and scored 24 points to 20 in the second quarter.

However, the Spectres were able to work their way on top during the third quarter with 28 points to 17 but it was a game destined to go down to the wire.

In the end, Jordan Geer hit a massive triple to put Nunawading on top 82-81 but there was still time on the clock for the Sabres to get one more look.

It ended up with Smith-Milner in the mid-range, and he got himself down onto the block and 110-game NBL veteran took the contact and made the one-handed shot over the Nunawading defence.

That gave the Sabres the 83-82 victory to improve to 3-4 on the season while the Spectres slip to 4-2 with the defeat.

Melbourne United star Shea Ili made his first appearance of the NBL1 South season for Sandringham and he put up 20 points, seven assists and four rebounds.

His United NBL teammate David Okwera added 18 points and nine rebounds for the Sabres with Smith-Milner finishing with 17 points and seven boards, and another Melbourne player Dion Prewster 15 points and five rebounds.

Dain Swetalla top-scored for Nunawading with 18 points and eight rebounds with Remo Simankevicius contributing 15 points and six boards, Jack Gandolfo 15 points and five assists, and Costas Hronopoulos 13 points.

 

BENDIGO BRAVES 90 defeated DIAMOND VALLEY EAGLES 74

The Bendigo Braves started strongly and then finished well to beat the Diamond Valley Eagles by 16 points at home on Saturday night to record their first win of the 2022 season.

The Braves were hosting the Eagles at Bendigo Stadium and started well with 24 points to 15 in the opening quarter. They added another 16 points to nine in the second period to head into the half-time break in control 40-24.

Diamond Valley did get rolling in the third quarter to make a game of it by putting up 32 points having fallen 22 points down at one point, but Bendigo pulled back away in the fourth term to end up winning 90-74.

The result is the first win of the season for Bendigo after five consecutive losses while with the loss, Diamond Valley slips to 2-4.

Even though the Eagles pulled down 11 extra rebounds than the Braves, Bendigo still managed to attempt five extra field goals and shot 49.3 per cent from the field opposed to 37.9 from the Eagles. Diamond Valley did attempt 21 free-throws to seven but Bendigo hit 15/37 from three-point land.

Kuany Kuany delivered 24 points and six rebounds for Bendigo on the back of knocking down 4/7 from beyond the arc while Sidy Mohamed Djitte contributed 17 points and 12 rebounds, Luke Rosendale 17 points, and Malcolm Bernard 15 points, three rebounds and three assists.

Fresh off winning the NBL championship at the Sydney Kings, DJ Vasiljevic delivered 32 points, four rebounds and four assists while knocking down 4/9 from deep and 10/12 at the charity stripe.

Dane Pineau added 10 points and 13 rebounds, BJ Symons seven points and three boards, Ngor Manyang seven points and three rebounds, and Ben Allen seven points and four boards.

 

FRANKSTON BLUES 101 defeated CASEY CAVALIERS 85

As the new team in the competition Casey started out strong and had a three-point lead in the first break. 

Frankston came back strong and quite physical and put up good scoring shots in the paint to take the lead going into the big break. 

Coming back from half-time plenty of shots were taken by both teams although Frankston kept their lead. 

Casey started to get into foul trouble but got the points on the board to end up putting the game into overtime. 

It was shot for shot in the first minute then Frankston took over the scoring and the game scoring 14 consecutive points to end up winning 101-85.

The Blues ended up shooting 50 per cent from the field opposed to 37 per cent from Casey with Frankston also getting to the foul line 26 times to 11. However, the Cavaliers pulled down 22 offensive rebounds to 12 for the game to help them end up taking 16 extra field goals.

Dillon Stith delivered 23 points, 10 rebounds, five steals and three blocks for Frankston with Daniel Trist contributing 23 points and seven boards, Alister MacDonald 13 points, Lucas Barker 12 points and six assists, and Igor Hadziomerovic 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Davo Hickey was impressive for Casey finishing the night with 22 points and six rebounds with Jordan Bell adding 16 points and nine boards, Mitchell Riggs 15 points, Geremy McKay 15 points, 15 rebounds, four assists, three blocks and two steals.

 

KNOX RAIDERS 98 defeated KILSYTH COBRAS 72

With six players scoring in double-figures and another adding nine points, the Knox Raiders flexed their muscles on Saturday night for a big home win against the Kilsyth Cobras.

The Raiders were back at home at the State Basketball Centre and with their full squad becoming available, they are showing what they are capable of with a dominant showing against the Cobras.

Knox put up 39 points in the opening quarter to blow Kilsyth out of the water and they maintained that advantage virtually the whole way.

The Raiders were leading by 19 points at quarter-time, still by 15 at the half, by 17 again at three quarter-time and then with 23 points to 14 in the fourth term, the ended up winning 98-72.

The victory improves the Raiders to a 4-3 record on the season while the Cobras are now also 4-3.

It was an impressive shooting performance from Knox going 51. 3 per cent from the floor and 16/30 at 53.3 per cent three-point range opposed to the Cobras going 9/24 from deep for 37.5 per cent and 38.5 per cent overall.

It was a well spread out contribution from the Darryl McDonald-coached Raiders with Jacob Foy scoring 14 points, Alex Robinson 13 points and nine assists, and Mason Peatling 12 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Fresh off announcing his retirement from his 460-game NBL career, Adam Gibson also had 12 points and five assists with Reuben Te Rangi contributing 11 points and four assists, and Deng Acouth 10 points, five rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

Adrian Tomada top-scored for Kilsyth with 21 points with Deng Deng adding 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Trey Moses 10 points and eight boards.

 

BALLARAT MINERS 86 defeated MELBOURNE TIGERS 72

The Ballarat Miners delivered a strong first half and then big final quarter on the way to a home win against the Melbourne Tigers on Saturday night.

The Miners were hosting the Tigers at Selkirk Stadium and started impressively putting up 30 points to 21 in the opening quarter.

It was another 23 points to 16 in the second term and Ballarat were in control at half-time leading 53-37.

Melbourne was able to make a game of it with 25 points to 11 in the third quarter, but the Miners responded with 22 points to 10 in the fourth period to end up winning 86-72.

The win improves the Miners to a 5-2 record on the season while the Andrew Gaze coached Tigers are now 2-4.

Koen Sapwell is coming off an NBL season at the South East Melbourne Phoenix and showed his growth by putting up 33 points with 6/11 shooting from three-point land in the win for Ballarat.

Preston Bungei added eight points, eight rebounds and five assists, Deng Gak eight points and 10 boards, Zach Dunmore eight points, Jalon Miller eight points and six rebounds, and William Hynes nine points and five boards.

Michael Wearne top-scored for Melbourne with 21 points and six rebounds with Mason Gaze contributing 15 points, nine boards and four assists, Dogukan Elyazar 14 points and six rebounds, and Taj Chehhal 13 points and four assists.

 

ELTHAM WILDCATS 82 lost to WAVERLEY FALCONS 94

The Waverley Falcons continued their good run of form coming away with a 12-point road win over the Eltham Wildcats on Saturday night.

The Falcons made a solid start at Eltham High School with 22 points to 20 in the first quarter before adding another 24 points to 19 in the second term to head into the half leading 46-39.

Waverley was able to continue to pull away throughout the second half on the way to the eventual 94-82 victory to improve to 4-2 on the season while the Wildcats slip to 0-6 as they still chase that elusive first victory of 2022.

It was an impressive performance from the Falcons as they shot 53.3 per cent from the field for the night with Tristan Forsyth putting up 19 points and nine rebounds.

Dan Dillon added 16 points and six assists, Dexter Kernich-Drew 12 points and four assists, Simon Conn 16 points and three boards, Michael Harper 11 points and three steals, Bennie Lewis 10 points and eight rebounds.

Owen Foxwell got his taste of the NBL late in the season for the South East Melbourne Phoenix and was impressive for Eltham with 26 points with Josh Sykes adding 18 points, and Sam Short 18 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists in an impressive triple-double.

 

KEILOR THUNDER 77 lost to DANDENONG RANGERS 80

The Dandenong Rangers came from behind to finish strongly and beat the Keilor Thunder by three points on the road on Saturday night.

The Thunder were on top most of the way at Keilor Stadium to lead the Rangers by five points at quarter-time. 

Keilor was still leading by four points heading into the fourth quarter, but that's when Dandenong was able to make its move and outscore them 27 points to 20.

The victory improves the Rangers to a 2-4 record on the season while the Thunder are now 1-5 as a result of the defeat on their home court.

The Rangers raked in 51 rebounds to 38 for the game to end up taking 17 extra field goals with Dyson King-Hawea finishing with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Jacob Davison added 18 points, four rebounds and two steals, Calvin Enge 13 points, Deng Puoch 12 points and seven boards, and Lawson Eales 10 points and six rebounds.

Jacob Lampkin top-scored for Keilor with 20 points, 16 rebounds and five assists with Tyler Kidd adding 12 points and five assists, Kian Dennis 11 points and four rebounds, and Rhyss Lewis 10 points.

 

NORTH WEST TASMANIA THUNDER 80 defeated RINGWOOD HAWKS 72

The Ringwood Hawks couldn’t quite make it a double this weekend in Tasmania with the North West Tasmania Thunder ending up winning at home on Saturday night by eight points.

The Thunder were at home at Ulverstone Sports and Leisure Centre with the Hawks playing their second game in the Apple Isle in 24 hours on the back of a stunning comeback victory on Friday against the Hobart Chargers.

After Ringwood narrowly led by a point at the half-time break, North West took over in the third quarter with 21 points to 12 and that proved the difference in the game.

The Thunder ended up winning 80-72 and improve to a 4-2 record on the season as a result while Ringwood are now 4-3.

Ben Woolley was impressive for the Thunder finishing with 19 points, five rebounds and three assists with Jacob Furphy contributing 10 points, five rebounds, five assists and three blocks, and Cameron Brown 10 points and four rebounds.

Joel Beveridge added 11 points for North West and Lachlan Brewer nine points.

Tim Guers proved match-winner on Friday and did all he could again for Ringwood on Saturday with another 25 points and eight rebounds while hitting 5/8 from three-point land.

Robert Heath added 15 points and nine rebounds, Kyle Daggett eight points and six boards, and Matthew Roberts seven points.