South Spotlight | Seaman fires as Thunder beat Wildcats

Featured image: @traviphotography

Landon Seaman put up 28 points on 18 shots to lead Keilor Thunder to a first win of the NBL1 South season beating the Eltham Wildcats on the road 93-80 on Wednesday night.

It was a pre-Easter Wednesday night battle at Montmorency Secondary College with the Wildcats playing their first home game of 2026 and trying to back up their Saturday night road win against the Diamond Valley Eagles.

The Thunder started their season also back on Saturday and suffered a narrow home loss to the Knox Raiders but they started well against Eltham to open up an early double-figure lead.

Keilor remained on top the rest of the way to end up securing the 13-point victory on the back of shooting 53 per cent from the field and 10/22 from downtown even with Eltham also shooting 52 per cent from the field but just 5/19 from three-point range.

Landon Seaman already had 13 points in the first quarter for Keilor before finishing the game with 28 points and eight rebounds on the back of shooting 11/18 from the field, 3/4 from three-point range and 3/5 from the foul line.

Matthew Johns also had 15 points on 7/12 shooting for the Thunder with Deng Dut adding 13 points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals, Tana Kopa 14 points, and Daniel Foster eight points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Zak Cunningham ended the night with 21 points and six rebounds for Eltham on a supremely efficient 10/12 shooting.

TJ Weeks added 14 points and two assists with Harry Hornery contributing 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists, Sam Short nine points and five assists, and Mitch McCarron seven points with five assists, four rebounds and three steals.

Keilor raced out to the fast start away from home with an early 12-0 run to get out to a double-digit lead but by quarter-time Eltham had pulled it back to just a five-point margin.

Landon Seaman already had 13 points to his name for the Thunder on the back of making all three of his three-point attempts and as a team Keilor went 6/8 from behind the arc.

Keilor took charge again early in the second quarter to open up a 17-point lead but once more Eltham hit back and had cut the Thunder lead to just 44-38 by the half-time interval.

Seaman added just the three points in that second period but his team remained on top despite 12 points on 6/7 for Eltham from Zak Cunningham.

The Thunder pushed back out to a double-figure lead again in the third quarter and by the end of the term they were leading the Wildcats 68-57.

The lead got back out to as much as 13 in the fourth term too with Keilor going on to complete the 13-point Wednesday night win ahead of Easter.

The Wildcats will be in action again next Thursday night on the road to the Ringwood Hawks with the Thunder back at home to take on the Northern Force on Sunday April 12.

NBL SOUTH 2026 SEASON | ROUND 1

ELTHAM WILDCATS 80 (Cunningham 21, Weeks 14, Hornery 11)

KEILOR THUNDER 93 (Seaman 28, Johns 15, Kopa 14)