East Spotlight | Falcons soar back into playoff hunt

Featured image: Kye Santarossa | @kye.santarossa

Seven games ago and the Newcastle Falcons NBL1 East season looked dead and buried, suddenly they have won seven in-a-row and one more in the final game could get them to the playoffs after Sunday's 76-72 win over the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders.

The Falcons lost 10 of the first 12 games of the season to look close to contending for the wooden spoon than a playoffs spot, but that has now dramatically changed with them entering the penultimate round on a five-game winning streak.

They then beat the Central Coast Crusaders who are in eighth place by a point in stunning fashion on Saturday night before backing up on Sunday at Newcastle Basketball Stadium against the out of contention Spiders.

Newcastle then managed to end up securing the four-point victory to make it seven in-a-row to now improve to a 9-10 record to be equal with the Crusaders and it all coming down to the last round.

Central Coast plays the bottom placed Albury Wodonga Bandits and the Falcons face the locked in Maitland Mustangs.

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Newcastle got the win they needed in the finish with precious little separating the two teams across the board but the Falcons did end up shooting 13/33 to 10/29 from the outside, and 11/16 to 4/11 at the free-throw which is where the difference came for them to get the four-point victory.

It's a seventh straight win now for Newcastle on the back of beating the Central Coast Crusaders the night before as they chase down a finals spot with Cha'Vez Woods putting up 17 points and three steals with 3/5 shooting from the outside.

Elias Cato added 17 points, four rebounds and three assists, Trace Evans 14 points, five boards and five assists, and Ryan Beisty seven points, 12 rebounds, five steals and two assists including a crucial late offensive board on a missed shot from Cato that helped secure the win.

With the pair of losses this weekend only by a combined nine points, the Spiders are now 6-13 for the season with Daniel Titus finishing with 18 points and five rebounds.

Jackson Smyth added 13 points, four assists and three rebounds, Brian Ansuh-Yeboah 11 points and two assists with 3/4 shooting from the outside, and Martez Brown nine points, 14 rebounds and three assists.

Newcastle breathed some real life back into their playoff hopes the night before with the one-point win over the Central Coast Crusaders ahead of hosting the Spiders who lost a tight one to the Sydney Comets back on Friday.

The Falcons had to keep on winning to keep their top eight hopes alive still and by quarter-time the scores were locked at 22-22 despite the nine points for the home team from Trace Evans.

It remained a tight battle through the second frame too and Newcastle ended up with 22 points to 19 on the way to leading 44-41 by half-time where the Falcons forced the Spiders into nine turnovers but the visitors also collected nine offensive rebounds.

Newcastle threatened to open up a match-winning lead in the third quarter going up 12 but Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai responded and had the deficit back to just five at three quarter-time.

Newcastle remained in control leading by eight when Elias Cato hit a pair of free throws with 3:45 to play, but they wouldn’t score again. The Spiders couldn’t take full advantage just with buckets to Nathaniel Chappell and Daniel Titus, but it wasn’t quite enough with the Falcons winning by four.

Newcastle now finish their season away to the Maitland Mustangs on Saturday night while Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai are at home to the Bankstown Bruins.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | FIRST NATIONS ROUND

NEWCASTLE FALCONS 76 (Cato 17, Woods 17, Evans 14)

HORNSBY KU-RING-GAI SPIDERS 72 (Titus 18, Smyth 13, Ansuh-Yeboah 11)