North-West Thunder defeated Eltham Wildcats - Saturday Round 11 Roundup

Recap NBL1 South Round 11 Saturday 

Tre Armstrong completed a remarkable fourth quarter comeback with the game winning three-pointer for the North West Tasmania Thunder to keep their season alive beating the Eltham Wildcats 96-93.

Both teams were sitting outside the top eight in the NBL1 South coming into the weekend so desperation was high for a win in the contest at Montmorency Secondary College and it would prove quite the fascinating match up.

It was the visiting North West Tasmania who got the better of the start to be leading 28-22 by quarter-time but then Eltham got on top in the second frame.

The Wildcats put up 30 points to 14 in the quarter to go into the half-time break leading 52-42.

Eltham's lead then also was out to as much as 13 points early in the fourth period but that's when the Thunder got stuck in and made a stunning final quarter run.

Seth Swalve knocked down three triples as part of a stunning 15-0 run for the Thunder and by the time Archer Woodhill landed from deep as well the visitors had turned that 13-point deficit into their own seven-point lead.

It was the turn of Eltham to respond starting with a three ball from Ralph Bissainthe before Josh Sykes threw down a dunk, and Angus Glover also hit from downtown to make it a two-point ball game with under a minute to play.

Two free throws from Owen Foxwell then saw Eltham tie scores up, but it was Tre Armstrong who hit the biggest shot of the night when he drained a three in the dying seconds to give North West Tasmania the three-point lead.

There was time for the Wildcats to take a timeout and draw up one final shot, but Bissainthe couldn’t make the three-point attempt and the Thunder scored the dramatic three-point victory.

The win keeps North West Tasmania's finals hopes alive at 7-9 with Sekou Sylla ending up with another 21 points, nine rebounds, six assists and two steals.

Seth Swalve nailed 4/7 from three-point territory on his way to 16 points and five assists with Tre Armstrong contributing 17 points on 4/8 long-range shooting, Ben Woolley 15 points on 3/6, and Archer Woodhill 12 points, nine rebounds and two steals.

Eltham slips to 8-8 with the loss with Owen Foxwell finishing with 24 points on 10/20 shooting from the floor while Angus Glover contributed 21 points, 11 boards and five assists on 5/8 three-point shooting.

Josh Sykes added 14 points, five rebounds and three assists with Zak Cunningham adding 12 points and five boards, and Ralph Bissainthe 11 points and three rebounds.

North West Tasmania complete their road double against the Knox Raiders on Sunday with the Wildcats away to the Sandringham Sabres on Friday night.

ELTHAM WILDCATS 93 (Foxwell 24, Glover 21, Sykes 14)

NORTH WEST TASMANIA THUNDER 96 (Sylla 21, Armstrong 17, Swalve 16)