North-West Thunder v Bendigo Game Preview

Game Preview by Brad Cole -  Thunder Media

The North-West Thunder will be looking to make a winning statement in their final appearance in front of their home fans when they host Bendigo in round 13 of the NBL1 South season on Saturday night.
In what has been a topsy-turvy campaign in arguably the most competitive sporting league in the country, the Thunder saw their finals hopes end last weekend when they suffered a heart-breaking 81-77 overtime loss to Kilsyth in Launceston.
Twenty-four hours earlier on Friday night, they remained in the race for a post-season berth with an impressive 93-78 victory at Ulverstone’s Mazda BT-50 Stadium against Diamond Valley.
Last weekend’s results left the team in 13^th place on the ladder with 8-11 record, and while the pre-season aim of making finals is now out of reach, Sam Armstrong’s team will be eager to finish with a flourish in their remaining three games.
It begins in front of the Thunder faithful against the 14^th-placed Braves (7-12), who have also endured an inconsistent season and begin their Tasmanian road trip having lost five out of their last six games.
The home team will be hoping to replicate some of the hot shooting that helped them defeat the Eagles on the same court eight days earlier, with Tre Armstrong (23 points) and Seth Swalve (15 points) combining to shoot at over 50 per cent from beyond the arc in the first half.

Sekou Sylla also added a game-high 28 points and 14 rebounds in a performance that sees the power forward move into the top five of both points and rebounds per game across the league.

Players to watch for Bendigo include import forward Andrew Robinson (16.8ppg), who is shooting at an outstanding 41.2 per cent from three-point range and leading scorer Rowan Mackenzie (17.7ppg), who also leads the league in steals per game (2.43).
The club is encouraging all fans to rug up in their ‘Tassie Tuxedos’ and get along to the Mazda BT-50 Stadium on Saturday night to send off the team in style ahead of a final-round double-header on the road against Nunawading and Dandenong next weekend.

Tip-off is at 7.00pm with tickets available by clicking here.

For those that can’t make it along to the game, log-in to the NBL1 website to catch all the action on the live stream.

LEADING PLAYERS
Points – Thunder: Sekou Sylla 21.56ppg, Seth Swalve 15.05ppg, Tre Armstrong 12.83ppg. Braves: Rowan McKenzie 17.71ppg, Andrew Robinson 16.79ppg, Mitch Clarke 15.80ppg.

Rebounds – Thunder: Sekou Sylla 11.19rpg, Archie Woodhill 5.95rpg, Paul Campbell 5.32rpg. Braves: Koch Bar 7.58rpg, Rowan McKenzie 5.21rpg, Billy Smythe 4.89rpg.

Assists – Thunder: Seth Swalve 5.26apg, Sekou Sylla 2.19apg, Ben Woolley 1.89apg. Braves: Mitch Clarke 5.40apg, Rowan McKenzie 3.79apg, Dylan McCauley 1.71apg.

LAST THREE MEETINGS
2023 – Braves lt Thunder 95-99, 2022 – Thunder lt Braves 60-69, 2021 – Thunder def Braves 82-70.