'Magnificent Seven': McGrath's Rollers win against all odds

• Gold Coast won the NBL1 national title with seven available players in Adelaide
• Ashley McGrath, 19, took Championship Game MVP with 21 points, nine rebounds, five assists
• Forestville made three three-pointers and every one of them came before half-time

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Gold Coast teenager Ashley McGrath, 19, took Championship Game MVP with 21 points, nine rebounds and five assists as a seven-man Rollers side beat Forestville 70-67 in overtime for the NBL1 national title in Adelaide.

Anthony Petrie's team arrived without Jensen Bradtke, Jimmy Whitt and Preston Le Gassick, who are back with their NBL clubs and who between them averaged 68.5 points a game in 2026, and they beat the home side on its own floor two nights after losing to it on the buzzer.

McGrath levelled the scores from beyond the arc with three minutes to play, put Gold Coast back in front with a minute on the clock, and then broke a scoreless opening two and a half minutes of overtime. Boston Mazlin, who played all 45 minutes, sealed it from the free-throw line after Daniel Johnson missed a corner three with 14.5 seconds left.

The shooting decided it. Forestville made three three-pointers and every one of them came before half-time, so they went 0-from-14 from deep across the third quarter, the fourth and overtime. Gold Coast were not much better at 7-from-38, but five of theirs came after the break, and they went 13-from-16 from the charity stripe against Forestville's 60 per cent.

Everything else favoured the Eagles, who out-rebounded Gold Coast 55-50 and had 21 points, 12 rebounds, two steals and two blocks from Greg Mays on 9-from-14 shooting, but who could not become the first NBL1 Central club to win a National Finals.

DAY 2 RESULTS

Semi-Final #2: Gold Coast Rollers def. Canberra Gunners 98-90

Sharpshooter Boston Mazlin and the Gold Coast Rollers have set-up a rematch with the Forestville Eagles in the NBL1 National Finals championship game after taking down the defending champion Canberra Gunners in the semi-final.

Needing to bounce back after falling to an Alex Starling game-winner on night one, the Rollers looked motivated and ran out to a 30-18 first quarter lead, which they backed up in the second quarter.

But the defending champions weren't going down easily, winning the third quarter 26-19 to have the match up for grabs. But unlike night one, the Rollers held their composure to record an eight-point win and be one win away from a national title despite missing three starters and their coach Anthony Petrie.

Mazlin had 29 points for the Gold Coast while newly-signed Illawarra Hawks development player, Brodie McGregor had 17 points and 18 rebounds for the NBL1 North champions.

Cameron Pender had 14 points and 17 rebounds for the Gunners.

Semi-Final #1: Forestville Eagles def. Frankston Blues 80-75

The hometown Forestville Eagles will play for a national championship after recording the upset of the tournament to beat NBL1 South champions, the Frankston Blues, in an epic semi-finals battle at the State Basketball Centre in Adelaide.

It was the Blues who started in dominant fashion, winning the opening quarter 24-17 before that trend completely flipped on its head in the second with the Eagles putting together a 22-6 second period to go into halftime with a nine-point lead.

From there, the home side were able to hold off a fast-finishing Blues side to earn a five-point victory and book their spot in Sunday's championship game. The Eagles are just one win away from being the second consecutive team to complete a fairytale story of winning a national title at home after the Canberra Gunners did it in 2025.

Former NBL big man Daniel Johnson led the way for Forestville with 20 points and 10 rebounds while Jeremy Combs had 27 points and 10 rebounds for Frankston.

Consolation Game: Norths Bears def. Rockingham Flames

Although both had no chance of competing for the national championship after losses on day one, that didn't stop the Norths Bears and Rockingham Flames from battling it out in their consolation game.

But it was the Bears who did enough, sparked by a 27-20 opening quarter, before holding off a valiant Flames side to end their tournament with a win.

Lachlan Bofinger top-scored for Norths with 23 points, nine rebounds and five assists while Blake Jones had 27 points and seven rebounds for Rockingham. Flames point guard and former NBL player Emmett Naar had 20 points and 14 assists.

DAY 1 RESULTS

Forestville Eagles def. GC Rollers 85-84

Alex Starling was the hero for the hometown Forestville Eagles, hitting the final five points of the game, including a game-winning jump shot to help his NBL1 Central championship team earn a one-point comeback victory over an undermanned Gold Coast Rollers.

The Rollers were the best team for most of the night and looked to have all but sealed victory with an 84-80 lead in the dying stages, only for Starling to knock down a tough three-pointer, before Ash McGrath missed two free-throws for Gold Coast, allowing the former Adelaide 36er to win the game and send the home crowd into a frenzy.

Starling was the player of the game with 22 points and 13 rebounds while Boston Mazlin led the way with 19 points for the Rollers.

Canberra Gunners def. Rockingham Flames 110-93

Canberra's chances of winning back-to-back NBL1 National Finals is still alive after a Will Mayfield masterclass led the team from the nation's capital to a 17-point win over the Rockingham Flames.

Mayfield had 29 points and six rebounds as the fairytale team from 2025 took a step closer to repeating their story from last season.

Rockingham big man, Blake Jones, had 45 points to lead his side.

Frankston Blues def. Norths Bears 93-79

The Frankston Blues kept their dominant form from the end of the NBL1 South season rolling after establishing themselves as the favourite to take out the national title with a 14-point win over the Norths Bears.

Jack Stanwix top-scored for the Blues with 24 points but had three other teammates in double figures as Frankston's firepower proved too much for the Bears.

Lewis Holey led the scoring off the bench for Norths with 17 points.

'Bottom Gun': Gunners defend title from sixth (tournament preview)

Canberra Gunners open their defence of the NBL1 men's national title against Rockingham Flames at 8pm ACST on Friday (tonight), seeded sixth and last of the six clubs in Adelaide.

They are the only club in the field that did not win anything to get here.

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basketball.com.au's Bec Cole (It's a Cole World) and podcast partners Jacinta Govind, Jake Burfitt and Christopher Caldicott are part of the commentary teams.

Every other club is here because it won something. Norths Bears took out the East and are seeded first, Forestville Eagles won Central, Rockingham won the West, Gold Coast Rollers won the North and Frankston Blues won the South. Canberra are here by right, as reigning national champions, after an early exit from the NBL1 East finals.

The numbers say the same thing the seeding does. Across the six clubs Canberra scored the fewest points a game at 83.33 and Gold Coast the most at 113.79, a gap of more than 30 points, and Canberra are last in the field for assists and field-goal percentage as well. Those are season averages across six different conferences, so they measure different competitions rather than a level playing field, but the spread is real.

Norths Bears open the whole tournament against Frankston at 4pm ACST, and Forestville play Gold Coast at 8:30pm.

Every club plays once on Friday and once on Saturday. The top two after those two rounds meet in the championship game at 1:30pm ACST on Sunday. There are no semi-finals.

Twelve teams, more than 120 players and coaches, and the first time the NBL1 National Finals have been held in Adelaide. Canberra, the Sunshine Coast, Joondalup and Melbourne have all hosted before.