Last Saturday night's NBL1 North semi-final was one for the record books, as the McDonald's Mackay Stadium saw its biggest-ever home crowd. An impressive 1,200 fans packed into "The Crater" to watch the McDonald's Mackay Meteors secure a thrilling victory over the Southern Districts Spartans with a final score of 100-90.
Isaac White led the charge with a stellar performance, scoring 32 points, grabbing 5 rebounds, and dishing out 5 assists. Todd Blanchfield also shone, contributing 28 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 steals. Luca Yates added 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists, while Aiden Krause and Emmett Naar provided solid support with 9 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, and 6 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists respectively.
Southern Districts Spartans Men’s Head Coach Peter Crawford reflected on the game, saying, "I felt like we were on the back foot from the start, we got into some foul trouble early. Key players got fouls, it could have gone either way, that hurts.
“Other than that, we did a really good job in the third quarter to win that quarter."
McDonald's Mackay Meteors Head Coach Joel Khalu expressed his satisfaction with the team's performance, noting, "Very happy to get to the next stage of the finals.
“We did a pretty good job for maybe three-quarters but it's finals basketball. Southern Districts are a good team, they were always going to make a run back and we kind of imploded a little bit.
“We were looking at a 3-point game with 6 minutes to go.
“The way we closed out with some timely buckets and Isaac made some huge plays in those final 3 minutes."
The Meteors will now host the 2024 NBL1 North best-of-three grand final series at Mackay Basketball this weekend against the Brisbane Capitals. The finals will take place on Friday night, Saturday night, and, if required, Sunday afternoon.
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