South Spotlight | Bayles, Braves beat Force, Savage

Featured image: @craigdilksphotography

Kye Savage did all he could to lift the Northern Force to a first NBL1 South home win but Biwali Bayles led the Bendigo Braves to a dominant second half for the 93-84 Friday night victory.

The Force were back in Launceston at Elphin Sports Stadium trying to win at home for the first time while the Braves arrived to start their Tasmanian road trip trying to bounce back from losing their past two.

Savage then scored 19 points in the first half for the home team to help them head into the break leading by five, but the Force couldn’t quite keep it up with the Braves taking over with Bayles leading the charge.

Bendigo went on to outscore the Force 51 points to 37 after half-time on the way to the nine-point to improve to 4-2 on the season with the Force now slipping to 1-6.

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Bendigo had a tough shooting night both from three-point territory going 6/24 at the foul line going 9/19, but they did shooting 65 per cent inside the arc and pulled down 17 offensive rebounds.

The Force still gave themselves a chance going 18/22 at the free-throw line but ultimately shooting 41 per cent from the field and 8/33 from downtown was tough to overcome.

Biwali Bayles continued his brilliant start to his time in the NBL1 South leading Bendigo to the win with 24 points, seven assists, five steals and four rebounds with 11/22 shooting from the field and despite going just 1/8 from downtown and 1/4 at the foul line.

Jarvis Doles added 23 points, 10 rebounds and two assists for the Braves, Billy Smythe 13 points and seven boards, Dashiel Walker 10 points and five rebounds, and Dylan McCauley nine points and three boards.

Despite the loss, Kye Savage had a monster night for the Force with 36 points, three rebounds and two assists on shooting 12/26 from the field, 6/15 from behind the three-point line and 6/7 at the free-throw line.

Aaron Ridley III added 18 points, three rebounds and two assists, Logan Gibson 13 points, 20 boards and three assists, and Vincent DeAngelo 12 points and four rebounds.

Both teams had lost their past couple coming into the Friday night match up and on the back of getting to the foul line 10 times to two in the first quarter, the Force were leading 23-22 by quarter-time.

The Force were able to go on an 8-0 scoring run in the second quarter and opened up an 11-point lead and by half-time they were still on top 47-42 on their home floor.

Kye Savage put the team on his back with 19 points with 3/5 three-point shooting while the rest of his team went just 1/8 while Logan Gibson added 10 points and eight rebounds.

The Force also went to the charity stripe 13 times to four for the half and that helped them to the lead despite the 50 per cent field goal shooting of Bendigo.

The Braves then had the better of the third quarter with 22 points to 14 with the Force only shooting 6/17 and 1/8 from downtown along with only getting to the foul line once which saw Bendigo leading by three at three quarter-time.

Bendigo went on with the job in the last quarter with 29 points to 23 and that saw the Braves begin their road double in Tasmania with the nine-point win while improving to 4-2 in the process.

The Force now don't play again until next week's Melbourne road trip against the Knox Raiders and Kilsyth Cobras while the Braves remain in Tasmania to take on the Hobart Chargers on Saturday.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | ROUND 5

NORTHERN FORCE 84 (Savage 36, Ridley III 18, Gibson 13)

BENDIGO BRAVES 93 (Bayles 24, Doles 23, Smythe 13)