East Spotlight | Bruins with too many weapons for Comets

Featured image: @flicksby.tessa

Obi Kyei and Ahmed Barba-Bey did a power of work for the Sydney Comets but the Bankstown Bruins had too much firepower led by Tederick Wolfe and Jason Cadee for the 99-89 home NBL1 East win on Anzac Day eve.

The two teams came into the Friday night match up fresh off a win each over the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders and Penrith Panthers respectively as they did battle at Bankstown Basketball Stadium.

The Bruins built a 15-point lead in the first half and even though the Comets kept things competitive led by Barba-Bey and Kei, Bankstown ended up having the answers for the 10-point win to open their double weekend with a second straight win to improve to 3-2.

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The key to the win for the Bruins was the number of strong contributions they had across the board and how different players stepped up at different periods to end up in the all-round team performance.

Tederick Wolfe fired up in the third quarter on his way to 24 points, seven rebounds and two assists for the game while going 9/11 at the free-throw line.

Anthony Mundine III had 10 points in the first quarter on his way to 17 with four rebounds and three assists while Alex Higgins-Titsha also had 15 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals, and Zeke Evans 13 points and 10 rebounds with most of his work done in the opening half.

Jason Cadee then didn’t score in the first half but had 13 points in the second on 5/9 shooting including hitting a couple of big threes in the third quarter while also dishing out 10 assists – five in each half.

Both Obi Kyei and Ahmed Barba-Bey did all they could to keep the Comets in the contest and try to will them to the victory while also playing at least 34 minutes apiece.

Kyei ended up with 27 points, nine rebounds, six assists and two steals on 11/19 shooting while Barba-Bey provided 23 points and six rebounds with the pair also combining for seven of their team's 13 offensive boards.

Akil Douglas added 14 points and three rebounds for Sydney, Chol Adup 10 points and two boards, and Johnny Crnogorac nine points, five assists, four rebounds and two steals.

Both teams brought winning form into the match up and it was a tight battle in the first quarter with the Bruins narrowly leading 22-21 by quarter-time on the back of 10 points from Anthony Mundine III while the Comets got a combined 18 from Obi Kyei and Ahmed Barba-Bey.

The Bruins managed to open up a 15-point lead during the second period and by half-time Zeke Evans already had 13 points and eight rebounds to his name.

Jason Cadee might not have scored on his seven shot attempts but he did have five assists with Bankstown leading 50-43 by the main break with his team pulling down 29 rebounds to 15 in the half despite the Comets having 26 points combined from Barba-Bey and Kyei.

The scoring picked up from both teams in the third quarter and with Kyei scoring another nine for Sydney and Bey 10, the Comets got right back into the contest thanks to 30 points to 29.

Bankstown were still clinging to the 79-73 advantage heading into the fourth quarter but an early fourth quarter 9-0 run from the Comets saw them grab the lead.

That didn’t last long and Bankstown got back on top and stayed there to end up scoring the 10-point win at home to improve to 3-2 on the season to start their weekend.

Both teams back up again to play on Anzac Day with the Bruins on the road to the Inner West Bulls while the Comets take on the top-of-the-table Norths Bears at Comets Stadium.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | ANZAC ROUND

BANKSTOWN BRUINS 99 (Wolfe 24, Mundine III 17, Higgins-Titsha 15)

SYDNEY COMETS 89 (Kyei 27, Barba-Bey 23, Douglas 14)