McDaniel, Harrison guide Bullets to first win

Saturday, September 23, 2023

The Brisbane Bullets ended the NBL Blitz on a high beating the defending champion Sydney Kings 105-76 on Friday night.

It was the battle of winless teams to close the NBL Blitz on Friday night on the Gold Coast and it was Sam McDaniel and Tyrell Harrison especially impressive as the Brisbane Bullets beat the Sydney Kings 105-76.

Neither team had won yet this week at the NBL Blitz on the Gold Coast and neither was at full strength for the last game of the tournament on Friday with Sydney still without DJ Hogg along with Makuach Maluach and Sam Timmins.

Brisbane was missing big men Rocco Zikarsky and Josh Bannan but it was some unsung heroes at the Bullets who would lead them to their first win of the week without imports Shannon Scott and Chris Smith, and Boomers guns Nathan Sobey and Aron Baynes needing to take over.

Brisbane had lost the opening two games of the Blitz to Melbourne United and the Illawarra Hawks under new coach Justin Schueller, but things clicked nicely on Friday night after the Kings led 22-21 by quarter-time.

It was Sam McDaniel who was instrumental in setting the game up for the Bullets as he prepares for his first season in Brisbane having made the move from the Tasmania JackJumpers, and on the back of another strong NBL1 South season at the Hobart Chargers.

With McDaniel leading the charge and with Tyrell Harrison sending a reminder what he can do as a big man and then DJ Mitchell showing he will continue to improve, the Bullets continued to pull away.

Brisbane was leading 45-40 at half-time and then 70-60 at three quarter-time. Shannon Scott was scoreless up to that point but hit two three-pointers early in the fourth quarter ahead of his first season with Brisbane after being so good for Cairns in NBL23.

The Bullets ended up piling on 35 points to 16 in the final period to win by 29 to end the Blitz on a high note and send the defending champion Kings into their title defence with three losses this week at the Gold Coast Convention Centre.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bang ?<br><br>The <a href="https://twitter.com/BrisbaneBullets?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BrisbaneBullets</a> start on fire from deep ?<br><br>Watch every game live & free via Kayo Freebies ?<br><br>Outside Australia? Watch via ?? <a href="https://t.co/8LoWsbRFtC">https://t.co/8LoWsbRFtC</a> <a href="https://t.co/AzuQBIGDD5">pic.twitter.com/AzuQBIGDD5</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1705155535899951405?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 22, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The Bullets shot a stunning 63 per cent from the field for the game and made 16/26 from downtown at 61 per cent with Sam McDaniel top-scoring with 21 points on 9/11 shooting with 3/4 from deep.

Tyrell Harrison ended up with 18 points, eight rebounds and two blocks in 19 minutes while fellow big man Aron Baynes adding 10 points, five boards and two blocks.

Nathan Sobey also had 17 points, six rebounds and four assists back in the same city he led the Ipswich Force to an NBL1 North championship this off-season. Chris Smith contributed 12 points with 4/6 three-point shooting and Shannon Scott six points and four assists.

Denzel Valentine was encouraging for the Kings with 12 points, four rebounds and three assists as was Jonah Bolden with eight points as he prepares to make his professional basketball return in NBL24.

Jordan Hunter also had 10 points and three rebounds, Jaylin Galloway nine points, four boards and three blocks, and new captain Shaun Bruce nine points and five assists. Jaylen Adams didn’t start and played just 14 minutes after a pre-game nose bleed.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">TOOOOHEY ?<br><br>Watch every game live & free via Kayo Freebies ?<br><br>Outside Australia? Watch via ?? <a href="https://t.co/8LoWsbRFtC">https://t.co/8LoWsbRFtC</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/playgoldcoast?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#playgoldcoast</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/destgc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@destgc</a> <a href="https://t.co/vrivSCg5q6">pic.twitter.com/vrivSCg5q6</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1705165720664129626?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 22, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Both teams now turn their attention to the start of NBL24 with the Bullets playing host to the Adelaide 36ers next Friday night while the Kings begin their three-peat quest on the road to the Illawarra Hawks on Saturday.

HUNGRY JACK'S NBL BLITZ

BRISBANE BULLETS 105 (McDaniel 21, Harrison 18, Sobey 17)

SYDNEY KINGS 76 (Valentine 12, Hunter 10, Bolden 10)

BOX SCORE