Semi-finals headline third day of Basketball Qld u16 Boys State Championships on the Gold Coast (Under 16 Boys State Titles )

It was do-or-die for teams wanting a gold medal as the grand final qualifiers headlined the third day of the Basketball Queensland Under-16 Boys State Championships.

It was do-or-die for teams wanting a gold medal as the grand final qualifiers headlined the third day of the Basketball Queensland Under-16 Boys State Championships at the Coomera Indoor Sports Centre.

The tournament, hosted by the North Gold Coast Seahawks, is reaching the business end as Division 1 teams tip-off the third day with their final pool games in the morning to decide the match-ups for the grand final qualifiers later in the day.

Results have gone as expected so far with the Southern Districts Spartans sitting at the top of Pool B, undefeated after four games, while the Brisbane Capitals and South West Metro Pirates will battle it out for second spot at 8am.

RedCity Roar's Geoffrey Peterson in action at the State Championships. Picture: Basketball Queensland

In the other pool, the Gold Coast Rollers and RedCity Roar have booked their spots in the semi-finals, going without a loss so far but the two teams face-off at 8am for top spot.

All games from court two will be livestreamed in this story, starting with the Rockhampton Rockets and Logan Thunder doing battle at 8am, followed by Division 2 semi-finals from 11am and Division 1 semi-finals from 2pm.

REPLAYS

Div 1 – Rockhampton Rockets def Logan Thunder 67-61

A fourth-quarter run has led the Rockhampton Rockets to a hardfought six-point victory over the Logan Thunder in the final round game for Pool A.

Both teams had come into the match with one win under their belt, both against Mackay, and despite matching each other basket for basket in the early stages of the game, it was the Thunder who pushed out to a slender lead at halftime.

The Rockets fought back early in the third quarter as they found some form on the offensive end and managed to grab the lead back before a quick fire response from Logan had the Thunder back in front by six points late in the third period.

But the game was not done as Rockhampton were able to stifle the Logan offence and find their range from the perimeter to climb back into the lead, even extending it to 10 points at one stage.

Logan responded late with several three-point baskets but it was too late as the Rockets recorded their second win of the tournament.

Div 1 – Townsville Heat def by Northside Wizards (1) 117-92

The Northside Wizards have ended their group stage with a dominant 25-point victory over the Townsville Heat in Division 1’s Pool A.

Northside moved up to fourth in the pool following the victory, where they proved too big a challenge from the opening tip for the Heat in what was a high-scoring clash.

The result gave the Wizards, who will now take on South West Metro in the crossover, their second win of the tournament while Townsville remain winless and will face the Logan

Thunder in their crossover.

Div 2 SF - Gold Coast Waves def by Ipswich Force 69-58

Tristan Afamasaga and Brodie Bettiens-Lingard have combined for 38 points to lead the Ipswich Force past the Gold Coast Waves and in tomorrow’s Division 2 grand final.

The pair helped the Force jump out to a double-digit lead early in the second quarter, an advantage they were able to extend to 15 points at halftime.

Gold Coast regained some momentum in the second half, reducing the lead to single digits at one point but the Force steadied and ended the game with an 11-point victory to book their spot in Sunday’s championship game.

Afamasaga had 16 points and Bettiens-Lingard had 12 for the Force while Ayden Merrylees scored 29 points for the Gold Coast.

Div 2 SF – SC Phoenix Teal def Southern Districts Titans 60-57

The Sunshine Coast Phoenix have produced a remarkable fourth-quarter comeback to record a three-point victory over the Southern Districts Titans in the Division 2 semi-final.

Southern Districts was the better team for the majority of the match, leading by double-digits late in the third quarter and seemed destined for an impressive victory to progress and meet Ipswich in the championship game.

But the Phoenix had other ideas, with Cooper Wilson leading the charge as the Sunshine Coast put the pressure right back on the Titans in the final period.

Momentum is a hard thing to stop and it proved too hard for Southern Districts to stop as the Phoenix made the crucial plays in the big moments to keep their hopes of a gold medal alive.

Wilson led the scoring for Sunshine Coast with 23 points while Ryder Mccormack had 11 and Devan Pringle had 10.

Cooper Greensill had 21 points for the Titans.

DIV 1 SF GOLD COAST ROLLERS V BRISBANE CAPITALS 88-80

The Gold Coast Rollers have survived an almighty scare from the Brisbane Capitals to book their spot in the Division 1 grand final on Sunday afternoon.

Having won the regular season competition, the Rollers were the favourites coming into the tournament and dominated their way to the semi final.

But Brisbane were up for the challenge, taking it to Gold Coast on both ends of the floor to have the lead in the first half.

But gradually the Rollers fought their way back, grabbing the lead through the play of star guard Indy Cotton and Samuel LeGassick who combined for 49 points as the Gold Coast maintained their lead and finished with an eight-point victory.

Cotton had 29 points while LeGassick had 20 for Gold Coast.

Emerson Juhasz led the scoring with 29 for Brisbane.

DIV 1 SF RED CITY ROAR V BRISBANE 85-83

RedCity have produced the comeback of the tournament to fight their way back from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter and record a two-point win to move on to face Gold Coast in the championship game.

After losing their undefeated streak to RedCity in the regular season semi-final, the Spartans came out firing and looked like turning that result around.

But the fourth quarter belonged to RedCity who came roaring back through Geoffrey Peterson’s 34 points and John Cooper’s 18 points as the team from the Redlands repeated history and booked their spot in the gold medal game.

Cletz Amos led the scoring for the Spartans with 19.

DIV 3 Logan v Musgrave