NBL1 – Page 33 – CROSS OVER DRIBBLE

NBL1 Wildcard Leg One: Eagles Men swoop COE in thriller; COE pack Puoch on Central Women

The COE Womens proved too strong for both our NBL1 Central sides but the Forestville Eagle Men provided the perfect matchup for the COE Mens as they played out an enthralling contest at the Nest. Here’s the wrap-up of the first leg of the NBL1 Central teams in the Wildcard round…

Sealed with a slam: Forestville Eagles Greg Mays seals the win for his side with a slam off an alley-oop pass from Malith Machar  Photo by All Star Photos

COE vs North Adelaide Rockets

Petrie dish and Puoch prove too strong for young Rockets

The COE Women accounted easily for the young North Adelaide team handing them a second half demolition 37-98 at the Lights. Seven COE players chalked up double figures in an impressive display led by Jess Petrie (13 points and 11 rebounds) and Nyadiew Puoch (13 points). Sienna Harvey also made her presence felt with 14 points as did Summah Hanson (12 points and 8 rebounds) and NSW Country rising star Isla Juffermans (11 points and 7 rebounds). It was a tough scoring night for the Rockets with Corrigan netting 10 points and 5 rebounds and Sammy “DeFran” Francesco showing her young cohort the way with 11 points and 7 rebounds. The COE were able to force the Rockets into 15 points from turnovers and 14 points from the fast-break after half-time through coach Kristian Veal’s instruction.

Toohey good in first as COE comfortably keep Rockets on ground

Captain of the COE Alex Toohey set the tone from tip off as he scored 8 points in the opening term of 16-32 to comfortably lead the COE to a 63-94 win over the Rockets at the Lights. Toohey finished with 11 points and 9 rebounds who along with son of the gun Jansen Bradtke (6 of his 11 in the first quarter off the bench) setup the win early for their side. NBA aspirant in the making Tyrese Proctor starred through the remainder of the evening with 14 points as did Rory Hawke with 13 points and 9 rebounds and Bol Dengdit with 13 points and 7 rebounds. The Rockets struggled to find anyone to score against this lineup but also notably only played a majority of their key players for no more than 20 minutes giving plenty of court time to their role players. Taking advantage was Nic Logan with 9 points in his 19 minutes on the floor.

COE Women vs Southern Tigers

Dallas drills gap between COE and Tigers in third

Dandenong Ranger Dallas Loughridge helped shake off a strong Tigers team in the third as the COE dominated the second half in their 52-76 win at the Cage. Loughridge dropped 8 of her 16 points in the 9-20 third quarter to setup a second half of 17-35. SA star Izzy Borlase did most of the damage through the afternoon with 18 points on 4-5 shooting beyond the arc and 5 rebounds and along with an impressive weekend from Puoch (11 points) were the best. The Tigers were led by Yaeger with 17 points and McKendrick with 14 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds.

COE Men vs Forestville Eagles

Mays DJ spins COE to first loss of series

It was closed by an emphatic dunk by import Greg Mays as he and 36er Daniel Johnson inflicted the first loss on the COE Men of their 2022 series 81-79 at the Nest. The Eagles went toe-to-toe with Robbie McKinlay’s side with Johnson dropping a whopping 39 points and 9 rebounds and along with Mays (12 points and 7 rebounds) caused the COE some big headaches. Hawke was dominant for the COE with 19 points along with skipper Toohey again with 11 points and Tyrese Proctor lodged 10 points but was well contained.

The next lot of Wildcard games will be due for July 16 and 17 for the Men and feature Norwood Flames and Sturt Sabres.

NBL1 Central Round 7 – Headband bros duel in thriller, Lions last quarter leap ends three-year drought

Round 7 of the NBL1 Central stepped up a notch in the stakes and history with nearly two droughts broken in one weekend, young talent time on full display from a Flame as he helps his side go 2-0 across the weekend and four riveting showdowns in the South and in the West. Here’s the Round 7 wrap of the NBL1 Central 2022…

"A Legan of his own" - NBL1 superstar James Legan dominated 3 quarters of his two matches on the weekend to nearly pull off the second drought breaking victory of the weekend including dropping a massive league record of nine triples on Sunday for the Eastern Mavericks.  Picture supplied by Picture IT Sports Photography

5-Minute Read

Saturday 21/05/22

Norwood Flames vs Eastern Mavericks

Flames turn up heat defensively to blanket Mavs

The Flames grabbed an important win in their season to drag them back into the top five blanketing the Eastern Mavericks and forcing the ball into their hands 81-65 at the Firedome. The home side forced the Mavs into 31 turnovers with up court pressure and match ups which yielded a 39-34 second half. Brooke Basham particularly good in the second quarter finished with 25 points and 4 steals and Ally Wilson with 20 points and 12 rebounds. It was Sophie Kerridge that set the tone from the tip to finish with 13 points, 7 assists and 7 steals. The two Canadians were dominant for the away side with Lefebvre-Okankwu clocking 25 points and 12 rebounds Gouchie-Provencher with 24 points, 16 rebounds and 2 blocks. Olivia Bradley was a spark after a big week and posted 8 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks to keep the Mavs in the contest.

Flames fire in second half to down dogged Mavs

It took a second half timeout one minute into the half for Norwood Flames coach Tim Odell to spark a 64-30 run and engineer against a fired up Eastern Mavericks 102-78 at the Firedome. A James Legan triple immediately after the half-time break saw the away side lead 38-48 with Odell triggering that timeout immediately, Legan was playing in a “Legan of his own” with a first half of 18 points but kept to just three attempts for the remainder of the contest to finish with 21 points. The Flames forced the Mavs into 13 points from 17 turnovers in the second half as Ray Harding took over to notch 30 points and 10 rebounds while Trey McBride fired up both ends of the floor to finish with 19 points. Koop McCalop was extremely consistent keeping the Mavs scoreboard ticking over with 23 points and 18 rebounds while Tom Cromarty an important piece in this line-up returned with 12 points and 5 rebounds.

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NBL1 Central takes its call from COE

Amongst the doubleheaders of NBL1 Central Round 7; the talented COE arrive with some new names, sons and daughters of NBL, WNBL and national sports stars and some names you will know very quickly both home and abroad. Lets find out who’s taking on the Rockets, Tigers and Eagles in the first leg…

Izzy good? She sure is and she's back to take on our NBL1 teams for the COE. Photo by FIBA Basketball

NBL1 Wildcard Games

Centre of Excellence vs North Adelaide Rockets

Women – Saturday 21/05/2022 6:30pm at the Launch Pad

Men – Saturday 21/05/2022 8:15pm at the Launch Pad

Centre of Excellence vs Southern Tigers

Women – Sunday 22/05/2022 1:00pm at the Cage

Centre of Excellence vs Forestville Eagles

Men – Sunday 3:00pm at the Nest (Live on Kayo Sports Freebies)

Centre of Excellence Women

The COE Women will be led by Dallas Loughridge a point guard with the Dandenong Rangers averaging 14.5 points already after two games while a familiar face from the Eagles in Izzy Borlase coming off an incredible U20 AJC will be a tough matchup averaging 12 points, 6 rebounds and shooting 43 percent from the field. They are 1-1 after dropping to the WNBL talented 5^th placed NBL1 South Bendigo Braves led by Tess Madgen, Abby Wehrung and Kelly Wilson before defeating the 7^th placed NBL1 North Mackay Meteorettes led by the Caps Shaneice Swain but were missing Miela Goodchild to note.

Likely matchups to watch for Loughridge will be Lauren Badenoch and Morgan Yeager for our NBL1 sides. This COE team average 46 rebounds per game also through a “peach” of a daughter in Jess Petrie (Gold Coast Rollers) and another U20 AJC set of stars in centre/forwards Isla Juffermans (Coffs Harbour Suns) and Nyadiew Puoch (Dandenong Rangers). Both the Rockets and Tigers will need to secure rebounding if they are to beat this highly talented group.

Centre of Excellence Men

The COE Men will be led by U20 AJC star Rory Hawke from the Townsville Heat averaging 18 points shooting 54 percent from the field and 50 percent beyond the arc and the name everyone wants to see in person the highly talented Tyrese Proctor (12.5 points, 3 rebounds, 2.5 assists). They are two from two yet to lose having taken care of the NBL1 North 8th placed Townsville Heat featuring former Perth Wildcat import Deandre Daniels and the 4th placed Mackay Meteorites featuring a host of well known names in Kyrin Galloway, Adelaide 36ers Emmanuel Malou and Biwali Baynes all on NBL lists in 2022.

Likely matchups for Hawke are Jimma Dau and Malith Machar with their length deterring the shooting ability while Proctor is likely to face a tough assignment from Terry Winn and Brandon Brine. This team bring each other into the fold with their average of 16.5 assists and teamwork crashing the glass through towering centre Josh Ojianwuna, the son of NBL centre Mark and tennis player Nicole; Jensen Bradtke (Southern Sabres) and Bol Dengdit (Portland Pilots). Considering the Rockets and Eagles numbers and experience in this area; I think its likely they might inflict at least the first loss for the COE this wildcard season.