North Spotlight | Statt's 45 trumps Whitt's 43

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Top spot went on the line and it was a spectacular night with Kody Stattmann scoring 45 points, James Whitt 43 and the Cairns Marlins kept up their undefeated NBL1 North record beating the Gold Coast Rollers 103-98.

The Marlins were back home at Trinity Ford Stadium having won their opening six matches of 2026 with Gold Coast arriving on a seven-game winning streak including the previous night in Townsville by 27 points.

Whitt then came out and put up 20 points in the first quarter to set the tone for Gold Coast and they would lead for most of the first three quarters before both teams had 8-0 scoring runs early in the fourth term for the lead to exchange hands.

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In the end, Cairns had the answers down the stretch to secure the five-point victory to improve to a perfect 7-0 record with Gold Coast slipping back to 7-2 having split their road double in the Far North.

Despite the loss, Gold Coast did shoot at 53 per cent compared with 47 from Cairns, but the Marlins went 12/30 to 3/22 from three-point territory along with going 21/30 from the foul line to 15/25 in the eventual win.

Kody Stattmann is in the form of his life so far this NBL1 North season and that continued with 45 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and two steals on 14/28 field goal shooting while going 6/11 behind the arc and 11/15 at the foul line.

Amarco Doyle added 22 points and three rebounds, Luca Yates 16 points and 15 boards, and Kobe McDowell-White eight points, nine assists and five rebounds.

James Whitt had the hot start and ended the night with 43 points for Gold Coast with six rebounds, four assists and four steals on 20/28 field goal shooting.

Boston Mazlin added 17 points and five assists, Brodie McGregor 15 points and eight boards, Jensen Bradtke 12 points and 12 rebounds, and Preston Le Gassick four points, four assists, three boards and two steals.

It was the battle of the top two NBL1 North teams with Gold Coast fresh off a win the night before in Townsville and Cairns yet to lose in 2026, and the sides combined for 62 points in an enterprising opening quarter.

James Whitt was absolutely unstoppable in the opening 10 minutes for Gold Coast on his way to 20 points on 10/12 shooting but the Rollers were only narrowly leading 33-29 on the back of that by quarter-time.

Whitt added another 13 points in the second period to have 33 by half-time on a phenomenal 15/18 shooting from the floor, but Cairns managed 29 points in the third frame to cut the Gold Coast lead to 59-58 by the major break.

Kody Stattmann was already up to 20 points and nine rebounds himself for the Marlins with Luca Yates adding 14 points and Amarco Doyle 11.

Gold Coast pushed back out to a seven-point lead in the third quarter but Cairns responded with Stattmann having another 14 points in the term and by three quarter-time it was the Rollers still clinging to the 81-80 advantage.

That set up a big finish and Cairns started the final term on fire with the first eight points including back-to-back three balls to Stattmann to get him up to 40 points already.

Gold Coast responded with the next eight points themselves to then be back on top by a point before the wild swings continued with the Marlins scoring the next seven including triples to Kyle Leslie and Doyle.

It was a tough three-point play from Stattman in the final minute that was the biggest play of the game in the end and from there the Marlins were able to secure the five-point win to stay undefeated in 2026.

Cairns now have a week off before trying to stay unbeaten against the Rockhampton Rockets on Saturday June 12 while Gold Coast will attempt to bounce back also in two weeks' time against the Southern Districts Spartans.

NBL1 NORTH 2026 SEASON | HERITAGE ROUND

CAIRNS MARLINS 103 (Stattmann 45, Doyle 22, Yates 16)

GOLD COAST ROLLERS 98 (Whitt 43, Mazlin 17, McGregor 15)