East Spotlight | Young gun shines in Bears home win

Featured image: Aaron Camua | @aaron.camua

Teenage gun Bailey Hanson lit it up while Lachlan Bofinger and Fabijan Krslovic combined for 29 points and 32 rebounds as the Norths Bears stayed unbeaten to start the NBL1 East season beating the Bankstown Bruins 87-71.

Both teams played twice back in the opening round with the Bears scoring a pair of road victories against the Newcastle Falcons and Central Coast Crusaders while the Bruins beat the Albury-Wodonga Bandits but lost to the Centre of Excellence.

That set the stage for them to return to action on Saturday night at North Sydney Indoor Sports Centre and after the Bruins made a flying start thanks to Jason Cadee, the Bears took over in the second half.

>> EAST SPOTLIGHT | SLAZINSKI FIRES SEA EAGLES TO BIG WIN

>> NEWLY MARRIED STEWART EMBRACING LIFE IN THE EAST

>> EAST WRAP | MEN'S ROUND 1

It was just a one-point lead at half-time for Norths but they outscored Bankstown 45 point to 31 from there on the way to the 16-point victory to improve to 3-0 on the season with Sydney Kings NBL championship winner Hunter Goodrick still to come back in.

The Bears finished with 20 offensive rebounds to 12 while forcing the Bruins into 15 turnovers which saw the home team end up taking an extra 14 field goal attempts.

Bailey Hanson might be yet to even turn 18 years of age, but showed what an exciting emerging talent he is by putting up 24 points, four rebounds and three assists in the win for Norths.

NBL veteran big man Fabijan Krslovic has returned home to the Bears in 2026 for the first time since before college. In his first home game in more than a decade, he delivered 15 points, 16 rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocked shots.

Lachlan Bofinger also had 14 points, 16 rebounds and five assists for the Bears, Robert Moore eight points, five boards and three assists, Ben Gill eight points on 4/6 shooting, and Iggy Mitchell eight points despite going 2/10.

Fresh off the plane after a trip to the United States over Easter, Jason Cadee still showed the way for Bankstown with 21 points and two assists with 4/9 three-point shooting.

Anthony Mundine III had a tough shooting night going 3/10 from deep but still had 12 points and two assists with Alex Higgins-Titsha finishing with 10 points, seven rebounds and two steals as he works back after injury ended his NBL26 early at the Cairns Taipans.

Elijah Kamu added nine points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals, and Tederick Wolfe nine points, eight boards, four assists and two steals.

Both teams played twice back on the opening weekend of the season prior to the Easter break, and it was the Bruins who raced out to the 9-2 lead on the back of a couple of three balls from Jason Cadee who was showing no signs of jet lag.

The Bears responded to get back into the contest and then by quarter-time it was Bankstown clinging to the 19-16 advantage with the 4/10 to 1/8 three-point shooting in favour of the Bruins the major difference.

The scoring rate picked up for both teams in the second period and it was the Bears outscoring the Bruins 26 points to 22 and by half-time young gun Bailey Hanson already had 15 points to his name with Norths holding the 42-41 advantage.

The Bears kept that momentum going into the third quarter too and they pushed out to a double-figure advantage and with 27 points to 18, went into three quarter-time in control with the 69-59 advantage.

The Bruins didn’t have enough left in the tank to make a genuine run in the fourth quarter either with the Bears cruising to the 16-point victory to improve to 3-0 to start the new season in encouraging fashion.

The Bears are back at home on Sunday to play host to the Albury-Wodonga Bandits while the Bruins are next in action at home to the Hornsby Ku-Ring-Gai Spiders next Sunday.

NBL1 EAST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 2

NORTHS BEARS 87 (Hanson 24, Krslovic 15, Bofinger 14)

BANKSTOWN BRUINS 71 (Cadee 21, Mundine III 12, Higgins-Titsha 10)