East Spotlight | Cadee fires Bruins in Sunday shootout

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It was a Sunday afternoon shootout and Jason Cadee scored 31 points with seven three balls as the Bankstown Bruins got back to winning in the NBL1 East with the 115-104 victory over the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders.

Both teams came into the contest at Bankstown Basketball Stadium needing the win with the Bruins having lost their past two after a first up win over the Albury Wodonga Bandits while the Spiders were yet to taste that winning feeling in 2026.

It turned into quite the high-scoring spectacle but that suited the Bruins with the firepower they have. They scored 33 points in the first quarter and then another 63 in the second half to score the 11-point victory and improve to 2-2 with Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai now 0-4.

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Bankstown came into the game having lost their past couple but responded impressively with 33 points in the first quarter and then 35 in the last to put up 115 for the game on shooting 57 per cent from the field while going 11/26 from three-point land and 18/24 at the free-throw line.

Jason Cadee enjoyed the Sunday afternoon atmosphere to put up 31 points and 13 assists to show he still is more than capable on the floor even having moved onto the next phase of his life including stepping behind the microphone.

He ended up shooting 9/12 from the field, 7/10 from downtown and 6/7 at the foul line.

Tederick Wolfe also had 23 points and five rebounds for the Bruins, Elijah Kamu 21 points, nine boards and three assists, Zeke Evans 16 points and seven rebounds, Anthony Mundine III 12 points and three assists, and Alex Higgins-Titsha 12 points and five rebounds.

Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai might have lost the game and slip to 0-4 to start the season, but there was a lot to be encouraged by at the offensive end with them shooting 50 per cent from the field and 14/41 from downtown while also collecting 15 offensive rebounds and having just the 12 turnovers.

Jackson Smyth had a breakout performance too with 31 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals with 5/12 shooting from downtown while Daniel Titus ended up with 25 points, eight boards, four assists and two blocks.

Martez Brown added 14 points and seven rebounds, and Daniel Garrett 10 points and four assists.

The tone of the afternoon was set in the opening quarter with the two teams combining for 55 points with Bankstown scoring 33 of those including Jason Cadee knocking down a couple of three balls for eight.

Elijah Kamu also had nine with the Bruins shooting 58 per cent from the field and going 8/12 at the free-throw line while the Spiders tried to stay in touch with 4/13 three-point shooting and with Daniel Titus scoring nine points.

Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai then got rolling in the second term shooting 11/18 from the field to put up 28 points. That helped them cut the Bankstown lead to 52-50 going into the half-time break.

The scoring continued in the third quarter with another 52 points between the teams with Bankstown going on a 10-0 run on the way to leading 80-74 by three quarter-time.

Things then went up another level in the final 10 minutes with Bankstown scoring 35 points and the Spiders 30 with the Bruins ending up scoring the 11-point victory to snap their two-match losing slide.

Bankstown back up on Friday night playing host to the Sydney Comets while the Spiders will be at home to the Maitland Mustangs on Anzac Day.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 3

BANKSTOWN BRUINS 115 (Forster 31, Weir 13, Burton 13)

HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 104 (Beggs 17, Rettstatt 14, Zugna 9)