East Finals | Crusaders ride momentum into prelim

The Central Coast Crusaders scored the last five points in dramatic fashion with Matur Maker and Garric Young delivering with their vocal fans loving every minute as they won their NBL1 East semi-final over the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles 73-71.

It was the last game of the second week of the NBL1 West finals and it was always going to be an enthralling match up at Northern Beaches Indoor Sports Centre with the Sea Eagles and Crusaders putting their seasons on the line.

Manly Warringah had slipped to fourth by the end of the regular season and then lost their qualifying final to the Illawarra Hawks but had home court advantage to fall back on this week.

The Crusaders stormed into the playoffs for the first time in the NBL1 winning seven of the last 10 games and then knocked off the Centre of Excellence last week in the elimination final for a first ever post-season victory.

That set things up nicely and it was a great atmosphere inside NBISC with the usual home fans from the Sea Eagles but the traveling contingent making up the 'Cru Crew'.

With Quinn Slazinski showing the way, Manly Warringah did open up a 10-point lead in the first quarter and were still up 23-15 by quarter-time while hitting three of their eight three-point attempts with Central Coast missing all theirs.

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Slazinski then picked up a third foul in the second quarter to make him sit out the rest of the half and remain on seven points but that was offset with a third foul too for Matur Maker who had just two points and three rebounds in his seven minutes in the opening half.

Then despite the 13 points for the Crusaders from Dylan Tea, Manly Warringah still went into half-time leading 40-32 with the 4/19 three-point shooting to 0/12 from Central Coast.

Maker then lasted less than four minutes into the second half before picking up a fourth foul taking him out of the game again and Manly Warringah retained their advantage as a result to be leading 54-44 by three quarter-time.

Slazinski then hit a huge three early in the fourth quarter before converting that into a four-point play to put the home team up 14 before a couple of triples from the Crusaders to Jamal Shoaib coincided with Maker's return to the floor.

Tea then hit another for the visitors to bring the deficit back to seven and Shoaib added a third in the matter of less than two minutes and suddenly it was just a four-point ball game.

The incredible hot streak of Shoaib continued with a fourth three ball that turned into a four-point play as well and then out of nowhere scores were level with five minutes to go.

Tea kept on the hot Central Coast shooting going to give them the lead with another three a minute later but Isaiah Lee responded for Manly Warringah.

The Sea Eagles there then back up three with just under a minute to play after a couple of tough buckets to Emmanuel Tshimanga but Maker responded with a three ball for Central Coast for just his third shot make of the contest.

It came at the most important time and then Garric Young hit the go-ahead bucket for the Crusaders and they survived from there to win by there to the delight of their travelling fans when Lee's attempted winner was no good for the Sea Eagles.

The Crusaders now take on the Norths Bears on Saturday night full of confidence in the preliminary final with Dylan Tea producing a standout performance and a breakout one consisting of 25 points and five rebounds.

Jamal Shoaib had that remarkable run of four three-pointers in no time in the fourth quarter for 15 points while Luke Cassidy contributed 11 points and seven assists in his 100th NBL1 game, Garric Young eight points, 10 rebounds and three steals, and Matur Maker seven points, seven boards, four assists and three blocks.

It's a heartbreaking way for the season to end for the Sea Eagles on their home floor with Quinn Slazinski top scoring again with 16 points, six rebounds and two assists.

Stefan Valkovic also had 14 points and six rebounds, Isaiah Lee 12 points, nine assists and seven boards, and Emmanuel Tshimanga nine points, eight rebounds, three blocks and two assists.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | SEMI FINALS

MANLY WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 71 (Slazinski 16, Valkovic 14, Lee 12)

CENTRAL COAST CRUSADERS 73 (Tea 25, Shoaib 15, Cassidy 11)