NBL1 National Finals Recap | Friday Men's Day 1

Original Piece by NBL1 

FRANKSTON BLUES 89 defeated CANBERRA GUNNERS 86

The Frankston Blues are the only non-championship winning team involved at the National Finals, but they delivered quite the remarkable comeback in a dramatic clash with the Canberra Gunners on Friday night.

Frankston booked their place in the National Finals courtesy of their big win in the Wildcard match up against the Centre of Excellence and they not only became the only team not to win a title to be in Melbourne, but also the only team who didn’t have to fly to be part of the weekend at the State Basketball Centre.

Frankston was also able to keep the majority of their squad that made the playoffs in the NBL1 South together for the National Finals including Lachie Barker who is also playing with Melbourne United at the moment during their pre-season hit outs.

Meanwhile, Canberra booked in their spot at the National Finals on the back of winning the NBL1 East championship in what was a tremendous Grand Final battle two weeks ago in Sydney against the Maitland Mustangs.

The Gunners have also been able to come to Melbourne with their full squad pretty much available so that set the stage for a fascinating first up match up on Friday night.

Canberra might have come into the National Finals somewhat as the unknown commodity, but they came out firing with at terrific start the game including leading 22-13 already by quarter-time.

The Gunners then blew the game wide open even further in the second quarter to open up an 18-point lead before still being in control going into half-time leading 45-32.

Canberra went back up 15 early in the third quarter but Frankston were playing with the home town advantage and started to work their back into the contest to close the gap to nine points by three quarter-time.

That set the stage for a terrific finish with two quick triples for the Blues from Alister Macdonald and Lachie Barker to close the gap to three. Dillon Stith then produced an offensive rebound and putback to make it a one-point game.

Shaun Mills steadied the ship for Canberra with a three ball but Frankston had the momentum and then grabbed the lead when Macdonald knocked down another triple with just under three minutes gone in the fourth period.

Canberra weren’t about to give it up, though, and consecutive three-pointers to Will Mayfield had them back on top narrowly before Barker hit another from deep from Frankston and then the drama really started.

Dhal Fieg delivered a stunning reverse alley-oop finish on the pass from Akech Aliir but immediately Barker knocked down yet another three-pointer in response.

Fieg was fired up, though, and then drove down the lane threw down a monster slam right in the face of Barker who went sprawling. He turned that into a three-point play to put Canberra back up four, but was called for a tech foul for his fired up celebration.
Frankston then responded with the last six points of the game on the back of baskets from Macdonald, Stith and Daniel Trist to snatch the 89-86 on the back of that remarkably spectacular finish from Fieg.

Canberra still had a chance to send the game into overtime but Mayfield missed a good look on the buzzer in what was quite the dramatic finish to a terrific contest.

Lachie Barker played for Melbourne United against the Brisbane Bullets the previous night, and lined up for Frankston and delivered a spectacular performance with 38 points, three rebounds and three assists on 8/14 three-point shooting.

Daniel Trist added 16 points and five rebounds for the Blues, Dillon Stith 12 points and six boards, Adrio Bailey 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Alister Macdonald 11 points and three assists.

Glenn Morison was Grand Final MVP for Canberra and kept that form going with another 22 points, six rebounds and two steals while Dhal Fieg finished with 18 points, five boards, three assists and two steals.

Will Mayfield added 16 points and seven rebounds, Akech Aliir 11 points, eight boards and four assists, and Shaun Mills eight points and three rebounds.