East Finals | Mustangs knock out the champs

Featured image: @rexbergas_ | rex bergas

The two teams were no stranger to facing one another with plenty at stake and their NBL1 East seasons went on the line on Saturday night and a big finish from the Maitland Mustangs saw them knock out the defending champion Canberra Gunners with the 94-70 win.

The Gunners and Mustangs met back in the 2022 Grand Final with Canberra prevailing before locking horns a year later in the semi finals with Maitland winning on the way to losing back-to-back Grand Finals.

They made up for it a year later with Maitland beating Canberra in the 2024 Grand Final and they resumed hostilities in an elimination final this time around at Tuggeranong's Southern Cross Stadium.

Canberra did still finish sixth at 12-8 despite losing eight of their last 12 games coinciding with the loss of the inspirational big man Glenn Morison.

Maitland, meanwhile, lost four of their first six games so were playing catch up the whole way but went on to win six of the last eight games to lock in a playoff spot in seventh place also at 12-8.

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No more than three points separated the two teams in the first quarter and the scores were locked at 23-23 by quarter-time.

Maitland then fired up with 31 points in the second term and by half-time that saw them leading 54-44 on the back of shooting a scorching 60 per cent from the field to just 46 from Canberra.

Myles Cherry already had 14 points for the Mustangs with Reyne Smith adding 10 points and six assists, and two-time MVP Will Cranston-Lown 10 points.

The Gunners did hit back in the third quarter with 18 points to 15 with Maitland only shooting 6/15 from the field and missing all five three-point attempts which cut their lead back to seven at three quarter-time.

But the Mustangs took charge once more with 25 points to eight in the last term while going 9/19 from the field with 5/11 from downtown and the Gunners struggled with just 3/13 shooting with another seven turnovers.

That saw Maitland complete the 24-point victory to keep their season alive and advance to a semi-final next Saturday night against the Sutherland Sharks.

The Mustangs ended up shooting 52 per cent from the field and forced Canberra into seven turnovers which proved a winning formula.

Cairns Taipans NBL guard Reyne Smith produced 24 points, six assists and three rebounds in the win for Maitland while hitting 6/12 from the outside.

Myles Cherry added 22 points seven rebounds and four assists on perfect 10/10 shooting and 2/2 at the free-throw line.

Will Cranston-Lown also had 17 points, eight assists and five rebounds, Billy Parsons 12 points, five boards, four steals and three assists, and Matthew Gray 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots.

The season is now over for Canberra as is their chance to go back-to-back in the NBL1 East but they will still have the chance to defend their championship at the National Finals in Adelaide.

The Gunners only shot 40 per cent form the floor for the night although did go 14/21 at the free-throw line to get there seven extra times than Maitland, but it wasn’t enough.

Cameron Pender finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds and two assists, James Toohey 11 points, three boards, two assists and two steals, Will Rice 11 points and three rebounds, Ed Bigg-Wither 10 points and two boards, and Will Mayfield nine points, seven rebounds, six steals and three assists.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | ELIMINATION FINAL

CANBERRA GUNNERS 70 (Pender 16, Toohey 11, Rice 11)

MAITLAND MUSTANGS 94 (Smith 24, Cherry 22, Cranston-Lown 17)