Category: NBL

Melbourne suffers costly defeat from Cairns

Brandon King

From nbl.com.au : All season the Cairns Taipans threatened to take a big scalp and in the final round they did the job taking down Melbourne United at Melbourne Arena on Thursday night. The Taipans came in with only five wins but they held their nerve and rode their talents to a spirited 87-85 win and potentially reshaped the upcoming finals series. Melbourne staged a dramatic late comeback from 82-74 down with five minutes to play gaining the ball with 18 seconds left and a chance to take the lead.…

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Liam Santamaria’s Week 17 Studs and Duds

Brandon King

Written for nbl.com.au by Liam Santamaria Bryce Cotton is a gift from the Basketball Gods and Damian Martin is the hero we all deserve. STUDS Bryce Cotton (Perth Wildcats) What Bryce Cotton did across the final 16 minutes yesterday was one hundred percent pure basketball brilliance. As Perth’s clash with Sydney approached three-quarter time, and with the Wildcats trailing by 8, Cotton was 0-for-10 and had not scored a single point for the afternoon. That’s before a backcourt steal by Clint Steindl gifted him a rare open look, sparking a…

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Rob Beveridge addresses speculation on future with Hawks

Brandon King

From nbl.com.au : Illawarra coach Rob Beveridge has addressed speculation surrounding his future, declaring he doesn’t know if tomorrow’s clash with New Zealand will be his final game in charge of the Hawks. Beveridge is out of contract at the end of the season, with his current four-year stint in Illawarra yielding a Grand Final appearance in 2017 and a Semi-Final berth in 2016. With the rumour mill heating up, Beveridge has provided an update on his future plans in a column published in the Illawarra Mercury. “It’s no secret that…

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Damian Martin helps save man from burning home

Brandon King

From nbl.com.au : Written for NBL.com.au by Chris Pike Just hours after sending his Perth Wildcats top of the NBL and minutes after shaking off a death threat, Damian Martin added to his remarkable reputation by saving a man along with his dog from a burning down house. Martin is in the midst of some outstanding form on the floor over the past month and his renewed offensive aggressiveness combined with getting back to full health to be firing defensively is a big reason why Perth sits on top of…

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Adelaide 36ers re-signs Jacob Wiley

Brandon King

From nbl.com.au : The Adelaide 36ers have locked in star forward Jacob Wiley, re-signing the import for the 2019-20 NBL season. Wiley joined the 36ers during the off-season after spending last season as a two-way player with the Brooklyn Nets, making his NBA debut after being called up from the Long Island Nets, much like former Adelaide star Mitch Creek did recently. Since arriving in the NBL, Wiley has impressed both statistically and when it comes to highlights featuring regularly in the Top 10 Plays each week. The 24-year-old Wiley said is thrilled to…

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Cotton comes on late to lead Perth past Sydney

Brandon King

From nbl.com.au: The Perth Wildcats might hope for more scoreless first halves from MVP Bryce Cotton after he delivered 24 of his 27 points in the fourth quarter and overtime in Sunday’s come-from-behind 95-86 win over Sydney Kings. The biggest crowd of the season, 13,520, turned out at RAC Arena to watch the Wildcats and Kings battle over finishing Round 17 in top spot, but to also move a stop closer to an all-important top two finish. Coming off Friday’s home win over Melbourne, Sydney started full of confidence having…

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Cairns defeats Brisbane in Loughton’s last game

Brandon King

From nbl.com.au : Their season may have gone down in flames early, but the Cairns Taipans have ensured captain Alex Loughton’s name goes down in glory with an emotion-charged win over the Brisbane Bullets on Saturday. Love was all around the building with 5,006 Orange Army faithful turning up to pay appreciation to the club stalwart, as his late and-one could have destroyed their Sunshine State rivals’ chances at making the playoffs. It was done in the grind-it-out method so common to Loughton and his Snakes of the past decade,…

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NBL R17 preview: Illawarra Hawks v NZ Breakers

Brandon King

From nbl.com.au: Illawarra Hawks v New Zealand Breakers When: 7.50pm (AEDT), Saturday 9 February Where: WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong Broadcast: Fox Sports; Sky Sports NZ The last time Illawarra 107 (Blanchfield 27, Conklin 20, Jett 14, Ogilvy 14) d New Zealand 96 (Weeks 22, Abercrombie 20, Long 17), WIN Entertainment Centre, Round 14 The wheels fell off shortly after three-quarter-time for New Zealand. Tom Abercrombie nailed a trifecta to put them 15 in front and cruising to victory, but the Hawks unleashed a 34-8 run to steal the game. AJ Ogilvy and Emmett…

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Perth outclasses Sydney in 88-68 beatdown

Brandon King

From nbl.com.au: The demise of the Perth Wildcats was greatly exaggerated with the league’s benchmark back to some imposing form and to the top of the NBL with a dominant 88-68 victory over the Sydney Kings on Sunday. The start of Round 14 saw the Wildcats lose on the road to Adelaide to leave them in danger of seeing their remarkable playoff streak come to an end having lost seven of the past eight games. But the response from the ‘Cats has been emphatic starting with a narrow home win…

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Perth pounds Adelaide 100-81

Brandon King

From nbl.com.au: The old warhorse Damian Martin turned on a clinic as the Perth Wildcats shook off a blistering Adelaide 36ers start to continue their resurgence with a statement-making 100-81 win on Friday night at RAC Arena. The Sixers shot out of the blocks with 18 points in the game’s first four minutes with Jacob Wiley hitting 12 of them as they looked set to fire themselves back into the NBL’s top four. It wasn’t to be with the 36ers ending up scoring just 13 points in the second quarter…

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