North Spotlight | Marlins complete 16-0 season

Featured image: Cairns Basketball

Amarco Doyle and Ky Stattmann combined for 56 points as the Cairns Marlins remained undefeated at 16-0 to close the NBL1 North regular season with the 116-91 home win on Friday night against the Rockhampton Rockets.

The Marlins had already guaranteed the regular season championship ahead of hosting the Rockets on Friday night at Trinity Ford Stadium but had a chance to complete the undefeated run to the finals on the same night they were celebrating the 10-year reunion of the 2016 championship.

Cairns there then leading the entire way against a Rockhampton team trying to avoid finishing their season on a 10-game losing run.

The Marlins were leading by six points at both quarter and half times before then outscoring the Rockets 64 points to 45 in the second half on the way to the 25-point victory to finish the season with a perfect 16-0 record.

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On the back of that 64-45 second half to stay undefeated, Cairns ended up knocking down 15/39 from behind the three-point line to 5/18 from Rockhampton while pulling down 20 offensive rebounds to four to get up an extra 21 shot attempts.

Once again five players from the Marlins scored in double figures and one player that didn’t was Kobe McDowell-White who dished out 10 assists to go with five rebounds and two points.

Amarco Doyle continued his hot form since signing in the NBL for the Illawarra Hawks and had 28 points, three rebounds and two assists on 11/15 field goal shooting and 4/7 from long-range.

Ky Stattmann also had 28 points with 12/22 field goal shooting while Luca Yates contributed 16 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and two assists, Kody Stattmann 16 points, nine boards and six assists, and Kyle Lesli 14 points, five rebounds and two assists.

Rockhampton might have suffered the ninth straight defeat but Jalen Graham still finished with 24 points, seven rebounds and two assists.

Isaac Ayoubi also had 19 points, four rebounds and two steals, Treauhn Williams 17 points and four boards, Junior Madut 12 points and nine assists, and Keahn Tuakura 11 points and six rebounds.

Cairns have now completed their regular season with the perfect record while Rockhampton now take on the Townsville Heat on Saturday night also on the road to wrap up their 2026 campaign.

NBL1 NORTH 2026 SEASON | ROUND 14

CAIRNS MARLINS 116 (Doyle 28, Ky Stattmann 28, Yates 16, Kody Stattmann 16)

ROCKHAMPTON ROCKETS 91 (Graham 24, Ayoubi 19, Williams 17)