National Finals | Forestville set up chance at home glory

Featured image: Tia De Santis | @tia.desantis

The Canberra Gunners did it at home last year and now the Forestville Eagles get the chance to do the same after booking a spot in the NBL1 National Finals Championship Game with Daniel Johnson lifting them to win over the Frankston Blues 80-75.

Forestville made it two of the last NBL1 Central championships when they beat the South Adelaide Panthers at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre two weeks ago, and that gave them a chance to win a National Finals not only in Adelaide, but on their home floor at the State Basketball Centre.

They still had to get there and it took Alex Starling hitting the last two shots of the game including the winner with 1.4 seconds to go to beat the Gold Coast Rollers first up on Friday.

Then standing in their way were the NBL1 South champions Frankston who started their second National Finals campaign having made the Championship Game in 2022 by beating the shorthanded Norths Bears on Friday.

That set up a fascinating battle on Saturday between two teams arriving in Adelaide close to full strength even though the Eagles are without Jordan Forbes and with Aussie Shelley unavailable for the Blues.

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Both teams deserved to be feeling good about their chances coming into the match up and it was the visiting Frankston who got the better of the start to be leading 24-17 by quarter-time on 10/19 shooting from the floor to just 7/17 from Forestville.

The Eagles turned things around in the second frame with 22 points themselves on 7/18 shooting along with 7/9 from the foul line with Daniel Johnson up to 12 of their 39 first half points.

But it was defensively where they locked down on Frankston holding them to just six points with 3/19 shooting and 0/11 from the outside along with forcing them into seven turnovers with Alex Starling showing why he's a six-time NBL1 Central Defensive Player of the Year.

That had Forestville leading 39-30 by halftime and then with 16 points each in the third quarter the Eagles were still on top 55-46 by half-time with Johnson up to 17 points while Jeremy Combs had 16 for Frankston.

Forestville then blew the game wide open early in the fourth with the first five points all to Fiston Ipassou to make it a 12-0 run having scored the last seven of the third which also included a three ball to Ipassou.

That saw the lead out to 18 points and while the Blues did produce a spectacular fightback and got all the way within three in the dying stages, they just ran out of time and championship captain Adam Doyle's sealed the Eagles win at the foul line.

Forestville now are into Sunday's Championship Game and have the chance to do what the Canberra Gunners did last year by winning the National Finals on their home floor to close 2026.

Daniel Johnson is still a high-level performer even with his 417-game NBL career behind him that has his No. 21 retired at the Adelaide 36ers where he's a seven-time club MVP. He led Forestville with 20 points, 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Fiston Ipassou also came up huge for Forestville with 19 points and eight rebounds with 3/6 three-point shooting with Adam Doyle contributing 10 points and five assists, James Mackenzie seven points, seven boards and four assists, and Stefan Gould eight points and five rebounds.

Alex Starling finished with six points, seven rebounds and four assists, and Greg Mays six points and five boards.

It was a valiant effort away from home from a Blues team who seven days earlier won their first NBL1 South championship but going 1/20 from the outside in the first half and 4/38 for the game made life mighty tough.

Grand Final MVP Jeremy Combs delivered another 27 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals on 12/18 shooting.

Kynan Philippe added 13 points and three rebounds, Jack Stanwix 11 points, six steals, five boards and five assists, Dibaji Walker eight points and four rebounds, Tom Garrett seven points and two boards, and championship captain Lucas Barker 10 assists with five rebounds, three points, two steals and two blocks.

NBL1 NATIONALS FINALS 2026 | DAY 2

FORESTVILLE EAGLES 80 (Johnson 20, Ipassou 19, Doyle 10)

FRANKSTON BLUES 75 (Combs 27, Philippe 13, Stanwix 11)