South Spotlight | Blagojevic leads Tigers past Pioneers

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The Melbourne Tigers unveiled some new faces for the NBL1 South season and George Blagojevic and Josh Sykes both starred in their first up 98-77 win against a shorthanded Mount Gambier Pioneers.

The Pioneers started their season with a three-point road thrilling win against the Ringwood Hawks while the Tigers waited until Sunday to get their 2026 campaign underway with coach Andrew Gaze on deck despite the NBL Championship Series in Sydney at the same time.

Melbourne are coming into the new season after a stunning run to the grand final in 2026 and have made a couple of changes including Blagojevic and Sykes on deck to help replace the departed Harry Froling.

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The Pioneers did only have the seven players available after their Saturday night win. The Tigers were able to take advantage including starting the third quarter on a 13-1 run, and then a 15-5 streak to start the fourth on the way to the eventual 21-point victory.

Melbourne ended up shooting 54 per cent from the field despite only going 6/29 from downtown and getting to the foul line just 14 times. The Pioneers shot 41 overall and 7/30 from deep but stayed in touch with 16/21 free-throw shooting.

George Blagojevic has made the move to the Tigers from Geelong United for 2026. He started off with a bang on Sunday with 29 points, 13 rebounds and three assists on 13/18 field goal shooting.

Josh Sykes has also come to Melbourne from the Eltham Wildcats and was impressive with 16 points and four rebounds with a perfect 7/7 shooting.

Tom Wilson is coming off an NBL season with Melbourne United. The reigning NBL1 South MVP had 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists with Jack Purchase delivering 11 points and six assists, Wilson Amos 10 points and four rebounds, and Kai Garnaut 10 points and five boards.

Mount Gambier had just the seven players available for the match up with all of them playing at least 18 minutes, and four of them 30 or more.

Collin Moore finished with 19 points with 9/10 free-throw shooting with Elijah Saifaleupolu also ending up with 19 points, four rebounds and two assists.

Scott Telfer added 19 points and four assists, Ngor Manyang 13 points, 10 boards, three steals and two assists, and Micale Mee five points and four rebounds.

Melbourne delivered a strong opening quarter to lead by as much as 11 points and to still be on top 27-19 by quarter-time with George Blagojevic showing the way with eight points as they shot 57 per cent from the floor to just 39 from the Pioneers.

Both teams found their offensive groove in the second frame combining for 53 points with Mount Gambier outscoring Melbourne 27-26, but still the Tigers were leading 53-46 at the half.

Josh Sykes, Blagojevic and Jack Purchase combined for 29 of those points for Melbourne. They were still shooting at 61 per cent while the Pioneers lifted their rating going 11/18 from the field for the period with Elijah Saifaleupolu and Scott Telfer combining for the 26 points.

The Tigers shot out of the blocks with a 13-1 run to start the second half to push that lead out to 19 points before the Pioneers did respond with the next eight points to at least keep the margin at 11 by three quarter-time.

But again Melbourne started the fourth term impressively with 15 of the first 20 points and ended up outscoring Mount Gambier 32-22 in the last term on the way to the 21-point home victory.

The Tigers will be back in action on Thursday night ahead of the Easter long weekend away to the Waverley Falcons while the Pioneers have a road double following a week off against the Diamond Valley Eagles and Geelong United.

NBL SOUTH 2026 SEASON | ROUND 1

MELBOURNE TIGERS 98 (Blagojevic 29, Sykes 16, Wilson 13)

MOUNT GAMBIER PIONEERS 77 (Telfer 19, Moore 19, Saifaleupolu 19)