East Spotlight | Majak stars as Bulls win again

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Malok Majak had a huge NBL1 East afternoon with 31 points and 14 rebounds as the Inner West Bulls made it consecutive wins by holding out the Newcastle Falcons 86-81 for the Sunday road victory.

The Bulls got back on the winner's list last Sunday against the Central Coast Crusaders following three straight losses and this Sunday's clash with the Falcons at Newcastle Basketball Stadium was their first game since then.

Newcastle were back on their home floor having scored their first win of 2026 the night before on the road to the Sutherland Sharks meaning both teams coming into the clash with winning momentum.

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After a close battle for three quarters, the Bulls opened up a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter and then held out the fast finishing Falcons to complete the five-point victory to improve to 4-3 on the season with Newcastle now 1-6.

Newcastle couldn’t quite back up their Saturday road win over the Sutherland Sharks but Mandrell Worthy delivered a massive second half to try and give them a sniff.

He finished with 26 points on 10/20 shooting from the floor, 2/5 from three-point territory and 4/4 at the charity stripe before fouling out.

Matur Maluach had 10 of his 16 points in the first half to go with five rebounds on 6/11 field goal shooting while Ryan Beisty contributing 14 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Jude Jennings also had 10 points, four rebounds and two assists, Jai Smith six points and eight boards, and Jaidyn Goodwin five points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals.

The Falcons were back home fresh off beating the Sutherland Sharks on Saturday on the road with the Bulls arriving having not played since last Sunday's win over the Central Coast Crusaders.

Newcastle did open up an early eight-point edge but by quarter-time that was back to just 24-23 with the Falcons getting up four extra shot attempts by the Bulls shooting 53 per cent to 47.

Things remained tight the entire way through the second quarter with no more than three points ever separating the two teams and by half-time the scores were all locked at 46-46.

Malok Majak already had 15 points and six rebounds to his name for Inner West while Matur Maluach was leading the scoring for Newcastle with 10.

Again no more than four points was between the teams the entire third quarter and that was the advantage for Inner West by three quarter-time on the back of their 66-62 advantage.

The Bulls then took total control to open up a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter and then despite a fast finish from the Falcons including going on a 10-0 run, Inner West held on to make it back-to-back Sunday victories.

Newcastle are on the road now this Saturday against the Norths Bears while the Bulls are playing host to the Illawarra Hawks.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 5

NEWCASTLE FALCONS 81 (Worthy 26, Maluach 16, Beisty 14)

INNER WEST BULLS 86 (Majak 31, Rentoy 11, Bleechmore 11)