North Spotlight | Rollers beat Force in high-quality affair

Featured image: Cairns Basketball

The Gold Coast Rollers put up 65 points in the second half on the way to the 111-108 win over the Ipswich Force that keeps them solid in an NBL1 North top two spot and leaves their opponents fighting for their playoff lives.

The Force were back home at Ipswich Basketball Stadium tying to consolidate a playoff position with the Rollers looking to stay in the top two and remain a chance to snatch top spot also from the Cairns Marlins.

Ipswich were on top for a lot of the first half including leading by as much as nine points but Gold Coast then got going with a 36-point third quarter before ending up completing the three-point victory.

The Rollers outscored the Force 65 points to 55 in the second half to secure the win and improve to an 11-2 record to stay solid in second with the Force now 7-7 and locked in a fight with the Brisbane Capitals and Southern Districts Spartans for sixth position.

>> NORTH SPOTLIGHT | CAPS BEAT PHOENIX TO STAY ALIVE

>> PROUD NES'EYA ONLY CONTINUING TO GET BETTER

>> FIRST NATIONS DESIGN SPARKS DARRYL JR'S NBL1 RETURN

>> NORTH WRAP | MEN'S ROUND 11

With both teams combining for 219 points, it was quite the entertaining affair with Gold Coast ending up shooting 56 per cent to Ipswich's 51 including ending up going 7/26 to 13/30 from downtown, but importantly 6/12 in the second half.

Preston Le Gassick continues to shine as point guard ahead of his first NBL season with the New Zealand Breakers. He produced 29 points and five assists with 12/23 field goal shooting.

Jensen Bradtke added 23 points, 11 rebounds and three assists, Brodie McGregor 21 points and five boards, James Whitt 18 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals, and Boston Mazlin 14 points, six assists and four boards.

It was a tough loss for the Force who now have just two games left and they are fighting for the playoff lives despite the impressive basketball they are playing to a large degree.

That's no surprise given the talent and experience they possess with Sam McDaniel producing 33 points, seven rebounds and four assists with 5/8 three-point shooting.

Lamar Patterson also had 23 points, nine rebounds and nine assists with Merrick Small adding 16 points and six boards, Will Mahoney 14 points, and Lachlan Anderson 13 points, three rebounds and three assists.

Coming into the game and Gold Coast were trying to remain a chance of nabbing top spot while Ipswich were clinging to sixth spot but it's a tight battle between them and the two Grand Final teams from last year beneath them.

Ipswich managed to work their way eight points up late in the first quarter when Sam McDaniel hit a three-pointer but Gold Coast responded with a 6-0 run all courtesy of James Whitt to cut their lead to 34-29 by quarter-time.

It was a high-quality start to the contest with the Force shooting 13/19 from the field to the 13/22 from the Rollers while going 3/5 from downtown while Gold Coast missed all seven of their long-range attempts.

Scoring was tougher to come by in the second term but it was no less of a tense contest with Ipswich adding another 19 points on 8/18 shooting with Gold Coast scoring 17 on 8/21.

That saw the Force still on top 53-46 by half-time with 14 points from Lamar Patterson with the Rollers staying in touch despite going 1/14 from beyond the arc including Preston Le Gassick and Boston Mazlin each going 0/4.

After slipping eight points down again early in the third quarter, Gold Coast found their groove putting up 36 points in the term including going 4/7 from long-range and with Jensen Bradtke adding another six points to be up to 20 for the game.

That saw the Rollers turn that seven-point deficit at three quarter-time into the 82-79 lead by three quarter-time before the swings continued in the last quarter.

Ipswich were back in front when McDaniel landed a three-pointer early in the final term and he hit another with three minutes to go to make it a three-point lead for the home team.

It was a three-point play from Mazlin that had the Rollers back in the lead which is where they stayed the rest of the way even with Ipswich getting back within one with a Patterson three ball with a minute on the clock.

Le Gassick responded with the last score of the game to secure the three-point win for the Rollers to keep them in second and a shot still at finishing top.

Ipswich now don’t play again until next Sunday at home to the North Gold Coast Seahawks while Gold Coast have a double header next weekend away to the South West Metro Pirates on Friday and then also the Seahawks on Saturday night.

NBL1 NORTH 2026 SEASON | FIRST NATIONS ROUND

IPSWICH FORCE 108 (McDaniel 33, Patterson 23, Small 16)

GOLD COAST ROLLERS 111 (Le Gassick 29, Bradtke 23, McGregor 21)