National Finals | Stanwix stars in big Blues win

Featured image: Tia De Santis | @tia.desantis

Jack Stanwix lit it up with 12 points in the first quarter and 24 for the game to open the NBL1 National Finals in an impressive 93-79 win for the NBL1 South champion Frankston Blues against the NBL1 East's Norths Bears.

A big part of who can seriously contend for the National Finals each year is player availability and that was on show in the opening game of this year's event at Adelaide's State Basketball Centre.

Frankston were fresh off winning a first NBL1 South championship last Saturday night against the Eltham Wildcats and had all those key players from their triumph on hand with them in Adelaide.

It wasn’t quite the case for Norths who proved too strong for the Sutherland Sharks on Sunday to win the NBL1 East championship, but NBL title winning trio Wani Swaka Lo Buluk, Hunter Goodrick and Fabijan Krslovic were all unavailable in Adelaide on Friday.

That made it quite the challenge for Tom Garlepp to get his side to compete against the Blues but Lachie Bofinger had seven points in the first quarter and they battled hard despite Frankston leading 22-17 by quarter-time with 4/8 shooting from the outside.

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A lot of that damage was done by Jack Stanwix who went 3/4 from deep on his own for 12 points in the opening 10 minutes making up for Aussie Shelley not playing for Frankston after getting through the Grand Final despite being hampered.

Norths did well to keep things competitive in the second frame with another 19 points with captain Matthew Wacher up to 10 points by half-time but the Blues did build on their lead with another 24 points themselves with 9/17 shooting from the field.

Stanwix added another six points to have 18 at the half while Grand Final MVP Jeremy Combs added 12 points and seven rebounds for the Blues.

Frankston did push their lead out to 19 points in the third quarter and they were still up 68-53 by three quarter-time with Stanwix adding another four points and Combs two more along with another five rebounds.

Norths continued to fight game out and did put up 26 points with 9/18 shooting from the field and 3/9 from the outside in the last quarter but Frankston did enough for the 14-point win with another 25 points themselves with 9/17 shooting.

By the end of the game the Blues were shooting 51 per cent from the field to 44 from the Bears along with 13/22 at the foul line to 7/15 to put themselves in a strong position to reach Sunday's Championship Game.

Jack Stanwix finished with 24 points, four steals, three assists and two rebounds with 4/8 three-point shooting for Frankston with Jeremy Combs adding 14 points, 13 boards and three assists.

Championship captain Lucas Barker also had 11 points, seven rebounds and two assists, Dibaji Walker 11 points, six boards and five assists, Henry Peirce nine points and five rebounds, Corey Hastings nine points and five assists, and Tom Garrett eight points, five rebounds and three assists.

Norths did their best to compete without their three NBL guns with Lewis Holey going from not hitting the floor in Sunday's Grand Final to playing 27 minutes and top scoring with 17 points, four rebounds and two steals on 5/8 three-point shooting.

Matthew Wacher added 14 points, three rebounds and thee assists, Lachie Bofinger 14 points, six assists, four boards and two blocks, Iggy Mitchell 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists, and Pietro Badalassi nine points, seven boards, three assists and two steals.

NBL1 NATIONALS FINALS 2026 | DAY 1

NORTHS BEARS 79 (Holey 17, Bofinger 14, Wacher 14)

FRANKSTON BLUES 93 (Stanwix 24, Combs 14, Walker 11, Barker 11)