Canberra Gunners are the first NBL1 East team to win an NBL1 National Finals championship

The Canberra Gunners had remarkable support from the local crowd and rode that emotion becoming the first NBL1 East team to claim the NBL1 National Finals by beating the NBL1 West's Geraldton Buccaneers 86-67. The Southern Cross Stadium in Tuggeranong was packed to the rafters and they were loud and wanting to cheer on their local Gunners team to a first ever National Championship with the atmosphere for a Sunday afternoon remarkable to wrap up the NBL1 season. It was every bit like the home crowd environment the Buccaneers are used to having on their side back home in Geraldton at Active West Stadium, but the Canberra crowd and Gunners team quickly let the NBL1 West championship winners know what a tough afternoon they were in for. The Gunners did work on top to be leading by seven points at quarter-time and continued to build on that the rest of the afternoon to the delight of the home fans to secure the eventual 19-point victory and to add the NBL1 National Championship to the NBL1 East title they won two weeks ago. Canberra become the first NBL1 East team to win a National Finals as well and just happened to do so in front of their loud and vocal home fans to add to the occasion. It proved a rough afternoon all-round for a Geraldton team who won an emotional and memorable NBL1 West Grand Final last Saturday night at RAC Arena. Having the crowd against them made it an added challenge, and by the end of the game technical fouls had gone against Nikolas DeSantis (191-G-1998), Joshua Keyes (201-F-1995, college: Muskingum), Akeem Springs (193-G-1994, college: Minnesota) and the bench, and a rough unsportsmanlike call on three-time championship winner and two-time title winning captain Aaron Ralph (200-G/F-1989) who might well have been playing his last game as captain of the Buccaneers. Canberra were able to ride the emotion that was in the building to deliver a commanding performance too finishing the game with 15 offensive rebounds for 16 second chance points along with holding a Buccs team that averaged 103.4 points a game in the NBL1 West to just 67. Canberra's own William Mayfield (F-2000) topped off the memorable occasion by being named Championship Game MVP on the back of his 21 points, 14 rebounds and three steals. Derek Emelifeonwu (190-G-2000, college: Walsh) was the NBL1 East Grand Final MVP and had another 17 points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals with all three of his triples coming in the first quarter to set the tone. James Toohey (188-G-1998, college: SVSU) added 11 points and six rebounds for the Gunners, captain Glenn Morison (208-C-1999, college: St.Edward's) 10 points, eight boards and two assists, Evan Wardlow (195-G-1996, college: CS East Bay) 10 points, four assists and three rebounds, and Angus Byatt eight points and four rebounds. It wasn’t the finish to the season the Buccaneers were hoping for but Verle Williams top-scored for the NBL1 West champions with 13 points, four rebounds and three assists. Johny Narkle (199-G-2001) will now fully throw himself into starting his NBL career with the Illawarra Hawks after 12 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals from the two-time Grand Final MVP. Akeem Springs added 12 points, four rebounds and two assists for Geraldton, Joshua Keyes 11 points, seven boards and two steals, and Nikolas DeSantis 10 points with 4/5 shooting. The Grand Final MVP's had hot opening quarters for their respective teams with Derek Emelifeonwu putting up 11 points with three triples for Canberra to ignite the loud and vocal home crowd. That helped the Gunners to the 27-20 lead by quarter-time but the Buccaneers were staying in touch thanks to eight points from two-time NBL1 West Grand Final MVP Johny Narkle. The momentum then further went the way of the Gunners who had a raucous home crowd advantage behind them. Canberra rode that energy in Southern Cross Stadium with 26 points to 15 in the second quarter and the Buccs were rattled while having plenty working against them. That included having a flopping technical foul called on Nikolas DeSantis, an unsportsmanlike on all-time three-point shooting record holder captain Aaron Ralph, and then another tech on the bench. As a result, the Gunners were leading 53-35 by half-time with all the momentum with a combined 28 points to William Mayfield and Emelifeonwu while they attempted 20 free throws in the half to just 10 from Geraldton. The Buccs did try to mount a comeback in the third quarter but couldn’t really make any inroads and Canberra continued to have all the answers with Geraldton even copping another tech foul just before three quarter-time, this time to Akeem Springs. The Gunners were still leading by 18 going into the fourth and then immediately stretched that lead to 20 with another bucket to Emelifeonwu. Evan Wardlow drained a three ball not long after and suddenly the lead was 25 and then 27 when Mayfield hit another basket that got the shooter's high bounce back in off the rim at Tuggeranong. There was no coming back from there for the Buccaneers and the Gunners romped to the 19-point win to the delight of their home fans who were deep in celebration mode.
Courtesy of: nbl1.com.au