East Spotlight | Bears go top with win over Sea Eagles

Featured image: Aaron Camua | @aaron.camua

Hunter Goodrick set the tone early and Lachie Bofinger fired as the Norths Bears survived another 33 points from Quinn Slazinski to consolidate an NBL1 East top two spot with the 91-74 home win over the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.

It was the first meeting between the two rivals since last year's quarter-final and a top two position went on the line at North Sydney Indoor Sports Centre.

Even without the presence of Fabijan Krslovic, another NBL champion Goodrick helped the Bears to a dominant start with his 17 points in the first half helping the home team to a 21-point lead by half-time.

Manly Warringah did fire back including 13 points from Slazinski in the third quarter, but Norths responded once more to secure the 17-point win to at least for now improve to top spot at 15-3 while the Sea Eagles are 13-6.

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The Bears outscored the Sea Eagles 77 points to 50 outside of the third quarter and ended up shooting 13/35 from three-point range to 7/21 but they did leave the door open by going 12/24 at the foul line.

But Norths ended up attempting 17 extra shot attempts on the back of 17 offensive rebounds to nine and having just 10 turnovers to the 14 from Manly Warringah.

The Bears go top with the win even without coach Tom Garlepp with Indiana Faithful stepping up with Hunter Goodrick having 17 points in the first half on his way to 19 for the night with eight rebounds and five assists.

Lachie Bofinger top scored for Norths with 23 points, eight rebound and two assists with 3/4 three-point shooting with Wani Swaka Lo Buluk returning from Australian Boomers duties for 14 points and four assists with 4/10 shooting from downtown.

Iggy Mitchell also had eight points and six rebounds, Bailey Hanson eight points and three assists, and Michael Yoong eight points and two steals.

The Sea Eagles remain in third place with Quinn Slazinski a lone hand for much of the night finishing with 33 points, 10 rebound and two blocked shots with 12/21 field goal shooting and going 7/8 at the foul line.

Stefan Valovic also finished with 14 points, four rebounds, three assists and two blocks, Emmanuel Tshimanga 10 points, eight boards and three assists, and Isaiah Lee nine points and nine assists.

A top two position potentially went on the line between the two local rivals on Friday night and it was the Bears on their home floor starting the better with 28 points to 16.

That saw Norths shooting 55 per cent from the field to 46 from the Sea Eagles with Hunter Goodrick showing the way for the Bears with 11 points while Quinn Slazinski had nine on 4/6 shooting for Manly Warringah.

The Bears retained control through the second quarter opening up a 14-point lead and still leading 52-31 by half-time to go into half-time shooting 50 per cent from the field to the 38 from the Sea Eagles.

Goodrick was a dominant presence in his second game of the season for Norths with 17 points while Slazinski was the only reason Manly Warringah weren’t further behind with 18 points on 6/12 shooting with the rest of his team scoring 13 points on 3/12.

Manly Warringah did fire back in the third quarter with 24 points to 14 and got back within 11 by three quarter-time with a pair of late three balls from Isaiah Lee and Stefan Valkovic.

Slazinski had another 13 points in that quarter for the Sea Eagles but they could never get close enough to strike in the finish with the Bears securing the eventual 17-point win to finish the night in top spot having shot above the Illawarra Hawks.

The Bears back up on the road on Saturday against the Inner West Bulls while the Sea Eagles now finish their regular season also against the Bulls on the road next Saturday.

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NORTHS BEARS 91 (Bofinger 23, Goodrick 19, Swaka Lo Buluk 14)

MANLY WARRINGAH SEA EAGLES 74 (Slazinski 33, Valkovic 14, Tshimanga 10)