North Grand Final | Gold Coast dominate Game 1

Featured image: @catchnkissphotography - Denise Saba

The Ipswich Force came in with a mission to slow the Gold Coast Rollers down and not need 130 points to beat them but were unsuccessful in Game 1 of the NBL1 North Grand Final series with the home team prevailing 118-85.

Ipswich might have finished the regular season at 8-8 and in sixth position, but had pulled off massive upsets on the road against the Sunshine Coast Phoenix and undefeated Cairns Marlins to book in their place in the Grand Final series.

Even more impressive was that they did that without former MVP Sam McDaniel who continued to not be released to play from the Brisbane Bullets ahead of NBL27 as they prepared to take on the offensive juggernaut from the Gold Coast.

The Rollers had averaged 112.3 points a game through the regular season including six times going over 120 and then winning their semi-final 127-91 over Logan Thunder.

For Ipswich to be a chance they knew they couldn’t get into a shootout with Gold Coast but the Rollers weren't looking to be slowed down and took over the contest right from the outset.

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Gold Coast put up 33 points in the first quarter on the back of shooting 60 per cent from the field and 4/7 from the outside with Preston Le Gassick up to 11 as he prepares for a first NBL season at the New Zealand Breakers.

Lamar Patterson did have 11 points already for Ipswich and Lachlan Anderson added six but they just weren’t getting enough help.

Patterson was up to 20 by half-time for the Force but his team only had 39 by the half and Gold Coast were up to 59 themselves on the back of shooting 20/39 to 15/37 along with 13/16 at the foul line to 6/6.

Le Gassick was up to 17 points for Gold Coast and Jensen Bradtke 12 with six rebounds while they forced Ipswich into 10 turnovers and were leading 59-39 by half-time.

Gold Coast continued to score at will and had another 30 points with 12/16 shooting in the third quarter with Le Gassick having 12 of those to already have 29 to his name by three quarter-time.

Even with Ipswich scoring 25 points in the quarter themselves with another 12 to Patterson to give him 32, the Rollers still built on their lead to be up 89-64 by three quarter-time.

It was another 29 points to 21 in the last quarter for Gold Coast with the lead getting out to 40 before settling on the 33-point win to be one win away from a first championship since 2022.

It was another imposing offensive display from Gold Coast with 58 per cent shooting along with 12/26 from the outside and 24/31 from the charity stripe but their defence was equally impressive holding Ipswich to 39 per cent shooting with 15 turnovers.

Preston Le Gassick wasn’t needed to add to his 29 points from three quarter-time to go with 11 assists and six rebounds on 4/8 three-point shooting.

James Whitt also had 17 points, eight assists, four rebounds and three steals, Brodie McGregor 17 points on 7/11 shooting, and Jensen Bradtke 16 points, eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocks.

Ashley McGrath also had 11 points, five rebound and three assists, and Boston Mazlin 12 points, seven assists, four rebounds and two steals.

It's a long road back for Ipswich but they were in the same position in 2023 when losing in similar fashion in Game 1 before hitting back over the weekend to win their breakthrough championship although that was with Nathan Sobey showing the way.

Lamar Patterson did all he could for the Force with 32 points, four rebounds and four assists with 5/12 shooting from the outside with Lachlan Anderson adding 17 points on 4/10 three-point shooting.

Phillip Deng also had eight points and two rebounds, and Will Mahoney seven points, nine boards and two assists.

NBL1 NORTH 2026 SEASON | GRAND FINAL GAME 1

GOLD COAST ROLLERS 118 (Le Gassick 29, McGregor 17, Whitt 17)

IPSWICH FORCE 85 (Patterson 32, Anderson 17, Deng 8)