South Spotlight | Kilsyth make it four straight

Featured image: Shane Panther | @shanejpg.sport

It took until the fourth quarter but the Kilsyth Cobras hit the first seven points of it to set up their 99-88 road victory against the Keilor Thunder as they close in on an NBL1 South top four spot.

Both teams came into the match up at Keilor Stadium in winning form and knocking on the door of the top four with the Thunder in seventh place after beating the Hobart Chargers while the Cobras had won three in-a-row to be fifth.

Keilor managed to stay in touch of Kilsyth with it just a three-point ball game by three quarter-time, but the Cobras then hit the first seven points in a dramatic and delayed start to the fourth quarter.

That proved to be the match winning move from Kilsyth with them on the way to the 11-point victory to make it four in-a-row and to improve to a 7-3 record while Keilor are now 6-5.

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Both teams shot the ball well with Keilor going 57 per cent from the field to 52 from Kilsyth, but the Cobras went 27/33 at the foul line to the 8/16 from the Thunder which was the major difference by the final buzzer.

Kilsyth made it four straight victories even with losing Dillon Stith to injury in the second half when he already had 15 points and six rebounds with 3/4 three-point shooting.

Chris Payton Jr ended up top scoring for the Cobras with 23 points, nine rebounds and four assists while Jamie Ahale added 17 points, three boards and two assists, Adrian Tomada 16 points, six assists, three rebounds and two steals, and Hamish MacDonald 10 points and seven boards.

Deng Dut finished with 20 points, eight assists and five rebounds for Keilor on 9/15 shooting but it was a frustrating start for him to the fourth quarter when he had four fouls next to his name and had to sit while Kilsyth put up six straight points only for one of those fouls to be swiped shortly after.

Landon Seaman added another 12 points, three assists and two steals, Tana Kopa 12 points and three rebounds, Matthew Johns 11 points, four boards and four assists, Nick Banon 10 points and three rebounds, and Zach Hinton five points, five boards and three steals.

Both teams came into the match up occupying fifth and seventh in the standings and trying to break into the top four with each of them bringing in winning form too.

Keilor shot out of the blocks impressively with an early 10-point lead but Kilsyth hit back with an 8-0 run and by quarter-time it was the Thunder just clinging to the 25-22 advantage on the back of shooting 67 per cent to just 44 from the Cobras.

It remained a tight contest in the second period with no more than four points separating the teams with Kilsyth managing 27 points to 22 on the way to the 49-47 lead with Chris Payton Jr and Adrian Tomada combining for 24 points by half-time.

The Cobras threatened to open up a handy lead again in the third term and were up as much as eight, but again the Thunder stayed in touch to cut the three quarter-time deficit to three.

That's where things got frustrating for all involved with a significant delay while a foul discrepancy on Keilor's Dent Dut was sorted. The Thunder believed he was only on three fouls, but four had been put next to his name.

He sat the start of the fourth accordingly with the Cobras scoring the first seven points before playing was again stopped and the fourth foul was taken off Dut.

There was also another delay while the score in the venue was matched up with the real score but the damage had been done and Kilsyth were on top and despite having lost Dillon Stith to injury, they went on to score the 11-point victory.

Keilor are not in action again until next Sunday when they host the Dandenong Rangers while the Cobras are at home to the Melbourne Tigers next Saturday night.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | ROUND 7

KEILOR THUNDER 88 (Dut 20, Seaman 12, Kopa 12)

KILSYTH COBRAS 99 (Payton Jr 23, Ahale 17, Tomada 16)