St Mary's Beat United in NBL23 Teaser

It might be only August but the build-up for NBL23 has gone up a notch with the first pre-season match taking place at Keilor Stadium on Tuesday night with last season's regular season champion Melbourne United going down to the Saint Mary's Gaels.

St Mary's is on a tour of Australia that saw them arrive to Keilor Stadium on Tuesday night to take on a United team only having just started pre-season training and with their imports yet to arrive, but it was still the first taste we have ahead of the 2022/23 NBL season.

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The Gaels were already warmed up for the battle and ended up beating United 88-67 after pulling away from midway through the third quarter onwards after Melbourne briefly took the lead.

United will be happy to get a run under their belts so early in the pre-season campaign with Rhys Carter taking over as coach for the night where Jo Lual-Acuil was among the players to suit up despite about to head to China.

It might not have been the most free-flowing of contests with the teams shooting a combined 70 free-throws, but it was a night where both teams would have been happy with what they took from it.

It has been quite the eventful off-season for Melbourne coming off last season's top spot finish in the regular season and then semi-final exit at the hands of the Tasmania JackJumpers, and their preparations are now well underway for NBL23.

While imports Jordan Caroline, Xavier Rathan-Mayes and Rayjon Tucker are yet to arrive, and fellow new signing Isaac Humphries didn’t suit up on Tuesday night along with captain Chris Goulding, it wasn’t a United team sort on talent or experience.

Leaders Shea Ili and Brad Newley were out there along with Dave Barlow despite not being re-signed for NBL23 while it was a chance for new arrivals Makuach Maluach and Josh Duach to impress in their first hit outs in the navy blue.

Ili was the standout in the game from a United perspective on the back of his NBL1 South form with the Sandringham Sabres, finishing with 18 points. Fellow guard Zac Triplett also impressed with 12 points while Lual-Acuil delivered 10 points and three rebounds.

Second year Next Star Ariel Hukporti produced seven points and three rebounds too for Melbourne with Maluach scoring five points, Duach three, Barlow three and Campbell Blogg three.

It's a natural for Saint Mary's to make the trip down under given their remarkable history with Australian players including Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova, Jock Landale, Daniel Kickert, and current NBL players Clint Steindl, Dane Pineau and Tanner Krebs.

This current team for the Gaels features three Australians too, all from Western Australia Alex Ducas, Kyle Bowen and Harry Wessels so there was plenty of fascination for their clash with United.

Ducas is fresh off being part of the Australian Boomers' successful FIBA Asia Cup campaign while both he and Bowen are already NBL1 West championships winners from before their St Mary's stints began at the Geraldton Buccaneers in 2019 and Perth Redbacks in 2017 respectively.

There was a lot to like in the eventual 21-point win for Saint Mary's with Ducas starring to continue what has been a massive off-season ahead of his senior year with the Gaels. He finished with 18 points and five rebounds while Bowen added 10 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, three steals and a block.

Leemet Bockler delivered 16 points and four rebounds as well for St Mary's, Aidan Mahaney 16 points and two assists, Mitchell Saxen 10 points and 12 rebounds, and Chris Howell seven points, three boards and two steals. 

NBL23 PRE-SEASON

MELBOURNE UNITED 67 (Ili 18, Triplett 12, Lual-Acuil 10)

SAINT MARY'S GAELS 88 (Ducas 18, Bockler 16, Mahaney 16) 

BOX SCORE