2
Aug
North Semi-Finals
Marlins' perfection dead in water after Anderson's 40-piece
Ipswich Force Lachlan Anderson torched Cairns Marlins in the 2026 NBL1 North semi-finals. Photo: Low Post Shots
Highlights
The Marlins went 16-0 in the regular season and then lost the one game that decided their year.
- Lachlan Anderson scored 43 and made eight of Ipswich's nine three-pointers
- Cairns led by four at three-quarter time before Ipswich won the quarter 32-17
- Logan and Cairns each had both their men's and women's teams beaten
Ipswich Force forward Lachlan Anderson scored 43 points and made eight three-pointers to end the Cairns Marlins' perfect season 102-91 at Trinity Ford Stadium on Saturday, August 1, 2026 (AEST), the first defeat Cairns have suffered all year.
Sixteen wins, then that.
The Marlins, who came into the game after a week off, had made history in July as the first men's team in any NBL1 conference to go through a regular season undefeated, and coach Joel Khalu spent the week before this game telling anyone who asked that it counted for nothing.
"No, we're 100 per cent not guaranteed anything," Khalu told NBL1 in the days before the semi-final.
"Now everyone is back to 0-0 and Ipswich are 1-0 in terms of the playoffs so they're going to be coming in with confidence and for them it's probably a free swing.
"The pressure's probably more so on us versus them and that creates a little bit of a different scenario."
He was right on all counts.
Cairns led 74-70 at the last change. Ipswich won the fourth quarter 32-17.
Anderson's night carried it. He went 15-from-27 from the field and 8-from-15 from beyond the arc, which is to say he made eight of the nine three-pointers his team managed all night.
Lamar Patterson added 31 on 13-from-26, all of it inside the arc after going 0-from-7 from deep, and Merrick Small grabbed 15 rebounds.
Kody Stattmann, the NBL1 North MVP, top-scored for Cairns with 28 on 9-from-21. Luca Yates had 20 and seven rebounds, Kobe McDowell-White 17 points, seven assists and five steals, and Amarco Doyle 10 on 3-from-13.
Cairns shot 45.3 per cent and went 6-from-22 from three. Ipswich shot 50.7 and made 19 of their 22 free throws.
An hour earlier at Carrara, the Gold Coast Rollers had won the other men's semi-final in a way that flattered nobody but themselves.
The Rollers beat the Logan Thunder 127-91 after the sides were level 30-30 at quarter-time. Gold Coast won the remaining three quarters 97-61.
They finished with 23 offensive rebounds to Logan's seven and 57 total to 33.
Brodie Mcgregor scored 26 on 10-from-14, Preston Le Gassick 24 with eight assists and four steals, Jensen Bradtke 22 and 13 rebounds, James Whitt 19 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, Boston Mazlin 15 and Jackson McCabe 11.
Logan captain Shaun Bruce had 16 points and 16 assists in the loss. Zac Triplett scored 22 and Hunter Marks 17.
The women's semi-finals came first and were far closer.
Mackay Meteorettes beat Logan Thunder 88-87 on a bench technical. Logan had levelled at 87 with 1:20 to play through an Amandine Toi step-back three, and with seven seconds left the officials called a technical against the bench. Sammie Puisis made the free throw, Mackay turned the ball straight back over, and Chelsea Brook blocked Leah Scott's putback on the buzzer.
Toi finished with 32 points on 12-from-25. Brook had 17 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for Mackay, and Cheyenne Bobongie matched her 17.
Townsville Flames then beat the Cairns Dolphins 94-90 despite a triple-double from Cairns captain Mia Loyd, who played all 40 minutes for 27 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists.
Taryn Bond tied it at 90 with 33 seconds left. Bree Stephens answered with a layup at 13 seconds, and Chailee Ward made two free throws with two seconds on the clock after Summah Evans fouled her.
Courtney Woods led Townsville with 24 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Mia Murray scored 22 with five triples and Ward 20.
Two clubs had a night they will want to forget. Logan and Cairns each had both their men's and women's teams beaten, Logan by one point and then by 36, Cairns by four and then for the first time in 2026.
NBL1 NORTH SEMI-FINALS, SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2026 (AEST)
- Women: Mackay Meteorettes 88 def. Logan Thunder 87 (Toi 32; Brook 17, C. Bobongie 17)
- Women: Townsville Flames 94 def. Cairns Dolphins 90 (Loyd 27; Woods 24, Murray 22)
- Men: Gold Coast Rollers 127 def. Logan Thunder 91 (Mcgregor 26, Le Gassick 24; Triplett 22)
- Men: Ipswich Force 102 def. Cairns Marlins 91 (Anderson 43, Patterson 31; Stattmann 28)
