North Spotlight | Rollers put up another monster score

Featured image: @catchnkissphotography - Denise Saba

The Gold Coast Rollers put up another monster score, had 39 points in the third quarter and got a combined 56, 17 rebounds and 12 assists from James Whitt and Jensen Bradtke to close NBL1 North regular season beating the Mackay Meteors 123-87.

Gold Coast were already locked into a second place finish even before hosting the Meteors at Carrara Indoor Sports Stadium on Sunday to close the regular season

Mackay beat the South West Petro Pirates the previous night as well to lock in their playoff position but taking on Gold Coast was a whole other matter with the Rollers having won six straight with an average score of 117.3 points and winning margin of 28 in those games.

Gold Coast didn’t take long to get going once more with a 10-0 run in the first quarter on the way to leading 29-15 by quarter-time thanks to 55 per cent shooting from the field to 33 from the Meteors along with 4/8 from the outside to 1/5.

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It was then another 29 points to 17 in the second quarter the way of the Rollers for them to be leading 58-33 by half-time on 58 per cent shooting to 34 with Jensen Bradtke up to 14 points and James Whitt having 13 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Gold Coast then had a monster 39 points in the third quarter which included going on a 16-0 run to end up leading by as much as 47 points and still being up 97-53 by three quarter-time.

Mackay did manage 34 points themselves in the final quarter but still the Rollers cruised to the 39-point win on the back of scoring another 126 points on a scorching 64 per cent shooting from the field including 11/26 from the outside and 14/19 at the free-throw line.

That means that Gold Coast ends the regular season in second position with a 14-2 record and a seven-game winning streak with the winning margin up to 30 points and their scores up to 118.6 over those wins.

James Whitt had another standout performance for the Rollers with 29 points, nine assists, six rebounds and four steals with 14/18 field goal shooting.

Jensen Bradtke added 27 points, 11 rebounds and thee assists with Boston Mazlin having 17 points, seven assists, six rebounds and two steals on 3/5 shooting from the outside.

Ashley McGrath also had 17 points on 7/11 shooting with 3/6 from deep with Preston Le Gassick contributing 13 points, four rebounds and four assists, and Brodie McGregor 11 points, four boards and three assists.

Mackay now finish the regular season in fifth position at 9-7 with Jalen Johnson providing 15 points, five rebounds and two steals, Justin Ochaya 14 points, two boards, two assists and two steals, and Kobey Sager 12 points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Derek Emelifeonwu contributed 11 points and two steals, and Seth Ham eight points, seven rebounds and two assists.

Both teams now turn their attention to the finals with Gold Coast having the week off after finishing second while Mackay have a quarter-final against the Logan Thunder on the road next Saturday night.

NBL1 NORTH 2026 SEASON | ROUND 14

GOLD COAST ROLLERS 123 (Whitt 29, Bradtke 27, Mazlin 17, McGrath 17)

MACKAY METEORS 87 (Johnson 15, Ochaya 14, Sager 12)