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MELBOURNE - The Brisbane Bullets have won their first Australian National Basketball League title in 20 years, securing a 3-1 best-of-five grand final series win over the defending champion Melbourne Tigers on Friday night.
The Bullets won 103-94 at the State Netball Centre to secure the championship after wins in games one and three in Brisbane.
Guard C J Bruton was outstanding for brisbane, scoring 22 points and feasting on seven assists, while forward Dusty Rychart backed him up admirably with 21 points.
The Bullets last won the NBL title in 1987 but dominated the regular season and put together a 21-match winning streak, broken by the Tigers in game two of the grand final series.
Tonight the Tigers had no answer to Brisbane's brutal full court defensive pressure, which had threatened to suffocate their rivals all series -- and eventually did tonight.
Brisbane built victory on a huge third-quarter performance, outscoring the Tigers 27-15 and forcing the usually reliable Melbourne offence into 12 turnovers for the term.
They took a nine-point lead to the final change with a C J Bruton three-pointer and three-point play to end the term.
Then two early Sam Mackinnon baskets blew the lead out to 11 and the Tigers were unable to bridge the gap despite having five players in double-figure scoring.
Rashad Tucker and Darryl McDonald top-scored for the Tigers with 17 points apiece, while Chris Anstey (16 points, 11 rebounds) and Dave Thomas (14 points, 11 rebounds) worked hard.
- AAP
