Rockingham Flames vs Canberra

The game tipped off at 8:00 PM ACST on Court 2, the second men's fixture of the evening. Rockingham arrived in Adelaide just six days after clinching the NBL1 West title with a 66-62 win over the Geraldton Buccaneers on 15 August — the club's second men's championship in four seasons.

But the Flames were without critical personnel. NBL1 West MVP and Grand Final MVP Devondrick Walker had signed with the Brisbane Bullets and was unavailable, while four-time NBL championship winner Greg Hire also did not travel. Canberra, by contrast, fielded their full squad from their NBL1 East championship-winning campaign.

The Gunners exploited that disparity from the opening tip. With their full complement of weapons, Canberra built a lead that Rockingham — adjusting to life without its two most experienced operators — could not threaten.

A 17-point defeat against a conference champion that had won its own title less than a week earlier tells the story. Canberra established control early and maintained it through four quarters. Without Walker (the competition MVP who averaged 28 points per game through the NBL1 West finals) and Hire (a defensive organiser with four NBL championships to his name), Rockingham's offensive structure lacked its usual fulcrum and their rotations were thinner.

Individual box scores for this match were not published on the official NBL1 website at the time of writing, but the broader tournament data provides context.

James Toohey (21 points, 7 rebounds, 6/11 three-point shooting in Canberra's Day 2 win over Gold Coast), Glenn Morison (17 points, 13 rebounds on Day 2), Will Mayfield (22 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists in Day 1 against Sandringham), and Derek Emelifeonwu (the hero of Canberra's opening-day win over Sandringham) formed a multi-layered attack that Rockingham's depleted defence could not contain.

For Rockingham, Marshall Nelson — the two-time NBL1 West championship winner and former Illawarra Hawks guard — carried the scoring load in Walker's absence. He would later post 29 points on 10/14 shooting in Rockingham's Day 2 victory over Hobart.

Canberra's 110 points was the highest single-game total by any men's team across the National Finals weekend. Their offensive output reflected not just individual talent but a system that moved fluently with every rotation piece available.

Rockingham's 93 points was competitive — they scored 87 against Hobart on Day 2 — but the 17-point gap on defence was the decisive factor. Without two of their top five players, the Flames' ability to rotate and contain Canberra's diverse scoring options was stretched thin.

The result gave Canberra a 1-0 start in the National Finals group phase, while Rockingham dropped to 0-1 and faced a must-win on Day 2.

Both responded. Canberra beat the Gold Coast Rollers 101-91 on Saturday 22 August. Rockingham rebounded with a 102-87 win over the Hobart Chargers. The story arc continued: Rockingham recovered from the opening-night loss to win the national championship on Sunday 23 August, beating the Frankston Blues 85-74 in the final — a remarkable eight-day turnaround for the Flames.

Canberra, having split their two group games, did not qualify for the championship game.

Canberra threw the first punch in emphatic fashion, showing the depth and cohesion of a full-strength defending champion against an NBL1 West title-winner adjusting to the absence of its two biggest names. But the tournament format — a multi-day group stage leading to a single championship game — gave Rockingham the chance to reset, and they seized it. The 110-93 margin was a fair reflection of the gap on the night: Canberra sharper, deeper and more complete when it mattered most on Day 1.