South Recap | Men's Grand Final 2025

Image credit: Ian Knight Photography

Sandringham Sabres (99) defeated Melbourne Tigers (80)

Given how both teams reached the Grand Final, it was always going to be a dramatic decider and it certainly was with Sandringham Sabres overcoming a 17-point deficit to Melbourne Tigers before winning 99-80 for the NBL1 South championship.

It was an occasion so big that Tigers coach Andrew Gaze flew back early from Saudi Arabia and miss the end of the FIBA Asia Cup and there was a sold out crowd on hand creating a tremendous atmosphere at the State Basketball Centre.

The Tigers were riding the momentum from their remarkable preliminary final comeback and opened up a 17-point lead in the second quarter giving the Sabres plenty of work to do.

But Sandringham were up to the task and outscored Melbourne 78 points to 42 the rest of the way to claim the 19-point win and celebrate a first championship triumph in the NBL1 South, and first overall since 2005.

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The two teams finished fifth and sixth respectively at the end of the regular season with identical 14-8 records, but both of them entered the finals with plenty of momentum.

The Sabres started the season losing their first six matches but then won 14 of 16 games from there before going on to beat the Hobart Chargers, Eltham Wildcats and Mount Gambier Pioneers to reach the Grand Final.

The Tigers, meanwhile, did pick up some momentum when Harry Froling arrived and also had the MVP Tom Wilson along with Jack Purchase who set an NBL1 single game scoring record mid-season.

 

 

 

 

 

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They then beat the Ballarat Miners and Kilsyth Cobras to open the finals before coach Andrew Gaze was in Saudi Arabia as they played the Knox Raiders in the preliminary final, and produced a remarkable and emotional fightback to reach the Grand Final.

So the stage was set for a fascinating decider in front of a sold out and loud crowd at the State Basketball Centre with the Tigers getting to the foul line eight times to two in the first quarter on the way to leading 23-20 at quarter-time.

The Tigers then blew the game open when finishing a 12-0 scoring run into the second quarter to have a 17-point lead when Froling knocked down the shot three minutes into the period.

Sandringham were able to work back into the contest but Melbourne were still in control by half-time leading 46-35 even with both teams combining to shoot 9/34 from three-point territory.

Melbourne did again lead by 13 early in the second half but Sandringham began to whittle that deficit down and started to build some momentum with Ben Ayre doing all he could by flexing and providing energy to his team at every opportunity.

The Sabres ended up outscoring the Tigers 33 points to 19 in that third quarter to have turned that 13-point deficit at the start of the term into their own 68-64 lead by three quarter-time.

The momentum had shifted the way of Sandringham and even though the Tigers have pulled off some miraculous wins in the back end of the season to get to the Grand Final, but they didn't have another one left in them.

The longer the season went, the more the Sabres announced themselves as the best team in the NBL1 South after those first six losses and even with playing coach Dave Barlow fouling out early in the fourth quarter, his team outscored Melbourne 31 points to 15.

It was a dominant second half display from Sandringham outscoring Melbourne 64 points to 34 with 22/38 shooting and 8/15 from downtown opposed to the 10/37 from the Tigres and 3/18 from deep.

It was a fully deserved championship for the Sabres after losing last year's preliminary final to the Ballarat Miners with Tom Koppens having a night to remember on a number of fronts.

The Melbourne United NBL development player not only is now a championship captain in the NBL1 South for leading the Sabres to the title, but he was named Grand Final MVP after producing 26 points, 15 rebounds and four assists on 7/9 shooting from the floor, 2/3 from deep and 10/12 at the foul line.

 

 

 

 

 

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It was far from a one man show for Sandringham too with Malith Machar ending up top-scoring with 28 points, four rebounds and three assists with 5/10 three-point shooting.

Ben Ayre might not have quite going with his shot as he has been lately hitting 6/18, but he had just as many flexes to the Tigers players and crowd as points before having a significant impact on the result with 17 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists and two steals.

Before fouling out, playing-coach Dave Barlow had 12 points, six rebounds and two assists with Fabijan Krslovic adding six points and seven rebounds, and recently retired NBL centre Dane Pineau three points and four boards.

The Sabres did a good job of limiting the influence of MVP and Melbourne United signing Tom Wilson who finished with 17 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals for Melbourne.

Harry Froling top-scored with 21 points, 15 rebounds and five assists with Jack Purchase adding 20 points, eight boards and two assists, and Michael Wearne 11 points and three assists.

NBL1 SOUTH MEN'S GRAND FINAL 2025

SANDRINGHAM SABRES 99 (Machar 28, Koppens 26, Ayre 17)

MELBOURNE TIGERS 80 (Froling 21, Purchase 20, Wilson 17)