South Spotlight | Shelley comes up big again for Blues

Featured image: Trent Moore Sports Photography

Tana Kopa threatened to shoot Keilor Thunder to an NBL1 South victory with a huge last quarter but the experience of Daniel Trist and Lucas Barker, and continued emergence of Austin Shelley saw the Frankston Blues prevail 104-100.

It had all the makings of being a tremendous contest at Jubilee Park Stadium with both the Blues and Thunder coming into it on 5-3 records and having played some exciting basketball so far in 2026.

It certainly delivered as well and even though Frankston did lead by as much as 14, Keilor kept on firing back and it was a three-point margin heading into the last term.

That's when things went up a gear and after being scoreless up to that point, Kopa caught fire for Keilor hitting a huge three, making an and-one and threatening to be a match-winner in his first NBL1 South season having starred at the Willetton Tigers in the NBL1 West having come back from college last year.

But in the end it was Shelley who hit the biggest shot of the game and then helped seal the four-point win at the line for Frankston as they improve to 6-3 as a result with Keilor now 5-4.

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Daniel Trist produced 29 points and five rebounds on 10/14 shooting from the field and 8/10 at the foul line while fellow veteran Lucas Barker had 17 points and four boards with 4/6 from three-point territory.

Austin Shelley continues to emerge as a bright talent in the league with another 18 points and seven assists while Dibaji Walker contributed 16 points, five rebounds and two assists, Vincent Monaghan 11 points, two boards and two steals, and Corey Hastings eight points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Deng Dut had a big night for Keilor and put up 31 points with eight assists on the back of shooting 13/17 from the floor and 4/7 from three-point range.

Daniel Foster also had 18 points, five rebounds and five assists while Matthew Johns finished with 11 points and three boards, and Tana Kopa 11 points with all his points coming in a massive final quarter.

Both teams came into the contest on 5-3 records and trying to put some space between them and the teams around them, and it was Frankston with the better of the start to lead 21-14 by quarter-time.

That was on the back of shooting 53 per cent to the 38 from Keilor while the Blues also forced the Thunder into seven turnovers.

Frankston then managed to open up a 14-point lead during the second frame before Keilor hit back and ended up shooting 5/6 from three-point range for the quarter to cut the Blues advantage to 46-40 by the main break.

Again the Blues pushed out to an 11-point edge in the third period but the Thunder fired back once more and by three quarter-time it was just a three-point ball game.

Things then went up another level in the final quarter and both teams combined for 69 points across the 10 minutes and even though Frankston looked to have done enough on several occasions, Keilor wouldn’t go away.

Tana Kopa hadn’t scored by three quarter-time but he was the one threatening to shoot the Thunder to the win with all 11 of his points in the final term including two free throws with 7.4 seconds left to cut the Frankston lead to two.

Dibaji Walker was able to knock down two free throws for Frankston before Deng Dunt scored quickly for Keilor to give them some hope still should the Blues not seal the win at the stripe.

However, Austin Shelley made both at the line having earlier made a huge shot in the final minute to make it a three-point game and the Blues went on to win by four.

The Blues now have the quick turnaround to being away to the Melbourne Tigers on Sunday while the Thunder look to bounce back also on Sunday against a Hobart Chargers coming back from Mount Gambier on Friday night.

NBL1 SOUTH 2026 SEASON | ROUND 6

FRANKSTON BLUES 104 (Trist 29, Shelley 18, Barker 17)

KEILOR THUNDER 100 (Dut 31, Forster 18, Johns 12)