East Spotlight | Sharks stay East's hottest team

Featured image: @larasullivanphotography

The Sutherland Sharks held the Penrith Panthers to two points for the entire second quarter as they made it eight straight wins to be the hottest team in the NBL1 East with the 104-55 home Friday night win.

The Sharks have now moved into the top four and were taking on a Penrith team guaranteed of a bottom two finish but still arriving at Sutherland Basketball Stadium having won their past two games as well.

Sutherland then opened up a 31-18 lead by quarter-time but then totally dominated the second frame with 29 points to two with the lone score of the Panthers coming in the final minute courtesy of Noah Webb with the visitors going 1/19 for the quarter.

Sutherland cruised to the 49-point win from there to make it wight wins in-a-row to consolidate their top four spot at 13-6 ahead of a mouth watering finish to the regular season against the top-of-the-table Norths Bears.

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It was another standout performance to make eight straight wins for Sutherland with 56 per cent shooting from the field to 28 from Penrith along with 9/27 to 5/29 from the outside, and 15/25 to 10/15 at the free-throw line.

The Sharks also collected 19 offensive rebounds to offset 17 turnovers on the way to the 49-point victory as they improve to 13-6 with Harrison Raynor delivering 16 points, six rebounds and two assists on 3/5 shooting from beyond the arc.

James Hunter added 13 points and eight rebounds on 6/6 shooting, Jason Spurgin 12 points, nine boards, four assists and two steals, Bailey MacArthur 11 points and three assists, Tyler Robertson nine points, seven assists and four boards, and Lochlan Hutchison seven points, six rebounds and three assists.

The Panthers couldn’t quite make it three straight wins to now be 3-16 with Noah Webb top scoring with 12 points and five rebounds while scoring those lone two points of the horror second quarter.

Brodie Schwarzer added 11 points on 3/6 shooting from the outside, Jett Hickson eight points, three rebounds and two assists, and Ben Kearins eight points.

The Sharks now play host to the league-leading Norths Bears on Saturday while the Panthers end their season on the road to the second placed Illawarra Hawks.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 15

SUTHERLAND SHARKS 104 (Raynor 16, Hunter 13, Spurgin 12)

PENRITH PANTHERS 55 (Webb 12, Schwarzer 11, Hickson 8, Kearins 8)