East Spotlight | Davo, Spiders shock Gunners again

Featured image: Immy Leeon, @immyeeonsports

Davo Hickey hit the monster three to see the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders push the defending NBL1 East champion Canberra Gunners to overtime, and then he sealed the 109-108 win at the foul line in dramatic fashion.

The two teams played only last Saturday with the Spiders ending the winning run of the Gunners that took them to last season's championship and winning the first eight games of 2026.

They had a rematch at The Brickpit with Canberra also trying to hit back from a loss the previous night on the road to the Central Coast Crusaders.

What eventuated was quite the Sunday afternoon contest with no more than nine points separating the teams and that was in favour of Canberra in the fourth quarter.

But the Spiders fired back and eventually it was a huge three with 2.7 seconds left from Davo Hickey that tied scores up. He then blocked James Toohey's shot up the other end to force the extra period.

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Then in extra time, it still went down to the wire and Hickey was fouled taking a three just before the buzzer. He made the first two, intentionally missed the third and the Spiders made it two wins over the Gunners in eight days.

Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai improves to a 3-9 record as a result with Hickey delivering 28 points, 12 assists, six rebounds and two blocks even while only shooting 1/8 from long-range and having another six turnovers.

It was Alex Sidhu who exploded for 30 points with eight rebounds for the Spiders while shooting 12/15 from the field, 3/4 from behind the three-point line and 3/3 at the foul line.

Daniel Tutus also had 19 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals, Nathaniel Chappell 13 points, four boards and three assists, and Martez Brown seven points, eight rebounds, two steals and two blocked shots.

Canberra have now lost three in-a-row to be 8-3 as defending champions despite the 36 points from Will Mayfield to go with eight rebounds, five assists and three steals.

He shot the ball at 11/24 from the field with 6/14 from beyond the arc and then 8/12 at the free-throw line.

Glenn Morison delivered another 21 points, eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks for Canberra, Evan Wardlow 20 points, seven assists, six boards and two steals, James Toohey 14 points with 4/6 three-point shooting, and Cameron Pender eight points, nine boards, four steals and three assists.

It was only eight days ago when Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai ended the winning streak of Canberra and they were keen to repeat the dose at home, but it was the Gunners who managed to be leading 27-24 by the end of the first quarter.

Then after Canberra got up by seven in the second term, the Spiders fired back and ended up outscoring the reigning champions 30 to 26 for the frame to go into half-time with the narrow 54-53 advantage.

Davo Hickey had already 14 points, four rebounds and four assists with Daniel Titus adding 14 points with the home team shooting 59 per cent from the field to make up for the 13 turnovers they coughed up.

Will Mayfield already had 15 points for Canberra by half-time while Alex Toohey had 11 while hitting all three of his long-range attempts despite the one-point deficit.

The Gunners then completed a 15-0 scoring run in the third quarter to work on top and to be leading 74-70 by three quarter-time with Hickey having been scoreless in that period.

That all set the stage for a dramatic finish and there were big plays galore in the final term and the Gunners looked on track to avoid a third straight defeat when Will Mayfield drained a huge three with 30 seconds to play to give them a three-point lead.

They were still up three after a free-throw each to Mayfield and Evan Wardlow, but the Spiders still had the chance on the last possession.

It was almost a messed up play for Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai but Hickey retrieved it and jacked up the three ball up top while a little off balance, but it went in to level scores once more.

Canberra still had a chance with 2.7 seconds left and Toohey had a look at the mid-range jumper but Hickey swatted it out of bounds and the game went to an extra five minutes.

The drama continued right through the overtime period and after Jackson Smyth scored for the Spiders after an offensive rebound to put the home team up one, the Gunners were back up one with a tough bucket up the other end from Wardlow.

Hickey was then fouled by Mayfield shooting a three up the other end and he stepped up to make the first two, then intentionally miss the second as time expired for Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai to beat Canberra for the second time in the space of eight days.

Canberra will now look to bounce back with two games against the Centre of Excellence before the King's Birthday long weekend firstly away to them on Thursday and then hosting them on Friday.

The Spiders won't play again until being away to the Sutherland Sharks on Saturday June 13.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | HERITAGE ROUND

HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 109 (Sidhu 30, Hickey 28, Titus 19)

CANBERRA GUNNERS 108 (Mayfield 36, Morison 21, Wardlow 20)