To The South: Best of a Brilliant NBL Week

From start to finish, the basketball of Round 13 of the NBL was nothing short of superb. Each game was competitive, energetic and full of individual heroics, with some so tense that they went all the way down to the wire. It's hard to pick the best moments from as close a perfect week, but here are the best of the very best from Round 13:

Sydney Kings vs Perth Wildcats

An early seven-point lead for Sydney was quickly cut to one following two successive three-pointers from Todd Blanchfield. The Kings held on to the lead after Casper Ware led them in finding a series of scoring chances in the paint, before John Mooney and Bryce Cotton combined to put the Wildcats in the lead

Thomas Vodanovich closed the gap for Sydney in a low-scoring third quarter, before Didi Louzada opened the fourth with six successive points to restore the lead to the Kings. Perth put themselves back in front after an unanswered run of six points, then closing the game out with five more to bring the game to a close with the Wildcats victorious 73-69.

It was a game full of high-scoring individual shows: Casper Ware with 20 points, Jarrell Martin managing 16 along with 10 rebounds, with John Mooney also making a double-double for the Kings (21 points, 10 rebounds) and Bryce Cotton leading all on the floor with 23 in the Wildcats win.

Illawarra Hawks vs South East Melbourne

A 14-1 run in the first quarter saw SEM go ahead by eleven points which Tyler Harvey and Scott Froling cut down to two shortly after the start of the second quarter. Kyle Adnam kept the Phoenix in front in the face of Illawarra keeping it a single-possession game before SEM put up sixteen unanswered points to begin the second half with a seventeen-point lead.

The Hawks started to mount a comeback in the third quarter, where Keifer Sykes led the Phoenix in keeping their lead alive. Their double-digit advantage was cut down to a single possession by Justinian Jessup in the fourth period; he and Harvey then combined to put Illawarra up by seven in the final minute.

Adnam got it down to two with twelve seconds left but Adam Gibson's last-second three-point attempt missed and was collected by Jessup, sealing the win for the Hawks. Adnam led SEM with 22 points, the same final score for Harvey on the Hawks, while Jessup led all with 26.

Illawarra Hawks vs Cairns Taipans

Illawarra began with seven unanswered points and after Cairns put their first points on the board Tyler Harvey kept scoring to put the Hawks up by double-digits still early in the game. Cameron Oliver and Mirko Djeric started to close the gap before the Hawks made it even bigger, with Deng Deng and Deng Adel combining to keep Illawarra ahead by a double-digit distance at the end of a breathless first half.

The Taipans got the gap down to a single possession by the start of the fourth quarter, only for Harvey to restore the ten-point gap after putting up eleven in a row for the Hawks. Cairns once again narrowed the gap, this time from beyond the arc, with one from Jordan Ngatai making it a one-point game with fourteen seconds left. Justinian Jessup, with smart play and cool free-throw shooting, made the points that

Cameron Oliver had 27 points and 12 rebounds for the Taipans in the loss, while Harvey was outstanding with a game-high 35 points in the second 82-80 win of the week for the Hawks - a win that sees them move up into the playoff picture.

New Zealand Breakers vs Perth Wildcats

The Breakers got off to a blistering 23-9 first quarter start, only to be shocked by the Wildcats in the following period, who in the space of ten minutes closed the sixteen-point gap to just one. When the game resumed Todd Blanchfield and Bryce Cotton combined to put Perth into the lead, though Corey Webster and Fraser Delany were keen to put the Breakers back into the lead.

Cotton continued adding to the Wildcats’ tally but just when it started to look lost for the Breakers, Delany and Levi Randolph started to close the gap midway through the fourth quarter. A 9-0 run in the last minute put the Breakers up by three with seconds left but Cotton came to the Wildcats rescue, sinking a three to tie the game at the final buzzer.

The game went to overtime where, after nine points without reply, the Wildcats had a steady lead with a minute left on the clock. Delany once again tried to win the game back for the Breakers, but Cotton put the game to bed with the last of his game-high 34 points, setting the final score 85-79 to Perth. Delany had a team-high 25 in the Breakers' loss.