South Spotlight | Blues make it double win weekend

Featured image: Cam Brown | @cambrownvisuals

The Frankston Blues made it a double win NBL1 South weekend with Dibaji Walker and Jeremy Combs combining for another 44 points and 11 rebounds as they bounced back from Tuesday's win to beat Waverley Falcons 95-78.

The Blues lost to the Ringwood Hawks back on Tuesday night to snap their six-game winning run but they bounced back on Saturday night beating Geelong United while the Falcons lost to the Sandringham Sabres back on Friday.

On the back of his 50 points last Saturday night, Gabe Hadley had another 21 points on Friday for the Falcons, but he didn’t suit up on Sunday and it made life decidedly difficult for Waverley to stick with Frankston.

The Blues were only up by a point at quarter-time, by six at half-time and by eight at three quarter-time before 23 points to 14 in the final term to win by 17 and improve to 14-6 as a result while the Falcons are now 7-12.

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Frankson continued their push towards the top four on the back of shooting 52 per cent from the field to the 41 from Waverley but they couldn’t quite put the Falcons away as quick as they would have liked with their 17/27 free-throw shooting.

Jeremy Combs has been a revelation since joining the Blues and produced another 26 points, six rebounds and four assists with 11/17 shooting from the field.

Dibaji Walker also had 18 points and five rebounds with 7/8 shooting with Corey Hastings contributing 18 points and four boards with 4/6 three-point shooting, Austin Shelley nine points and seven assists, Jack Stanwix eight points and four rebounds, and Kynan Philippe eight points and eight boards.

It was tough going for Frankston already without Gabe Hadley and then losing Matt McCarthy (nine points, 4/4 shooting) in the first half to a knee injury and eventually Malik Meunir (14 points, three rebounds, three assists) fouling out.

Mawot Mag top scored for the Blues with 17 points, 11 rebounds and two assists with Reaudale Williams adding 11 points and seven assists, and Bennie Lewis eight points, two rebounds and two blocks.

The Falcons lost to Sandringham back on Friday night with the Blues beating Geelong on Saturday but even without Gabe Hadley, the home team stuck with Frankston for most of the afternoon.

The Blues were only leading 22-21 by quarter-time thanks to going 7/7 at the foul line but the Falcons shot 50 per cent from the field and got up an extra three shot attempts.

The lead for Frankston got out to as much as 12 in the second quarter before they were still on top 48-42 by half-time with Jeremy Combs up to 13 points and Corey Hastings 12.

Matt McCarthy had nine points in 6:50 in the first half but his game was done after taking a knock to his knee and the Blues were able to build on their lead throughout the second half firstly with 24 points to 22 in the third quarter.

Frankston then had 23 points to 14 in the last quarter on the back of shooting 11/15 from the field to the 5/16 from the Falcons who also had Malik Meunier just to add to their woes.

Waverley now have a road trip to Tasmania next weekend taking on the Northern Force on Friday and the Hobart Chargers on Saturday with Frankston remaining on the road to the Diamond Valley Eagles on Saturday night.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | FIRST NATIONS ROUND

WAVERLEY FALCONS 78 (Mag 17, Meunier 14, Williams 11)

FRANKSTON BLUES 95 (Combs 26, Walker 18, Hastings 18)