Mackay Meteors defeat Rip City, book home NBL1 grand finals

A half-time speech has spurred on the Meteors to overcome a 12-point deficit to run out 15-point winners in the NBL1 North semi-final.

Captain Chris Cedar and star Emmanuel Malou led a dominant second half led to secure a grand final berth for the Mackay Meteors.

The two halves could not have been more polarising as the Meteors scored just 18 points in the first quarter and trailed by as many as 12 points to Rip City, before scoring 39 in the final term to secure a 15-point win.

Meteors coach Joel Khalu said he reminded the side of the game plan at half-time, which gave the team belief they could run over the top of Rip City.

“I didn’t say anything out of the ordinary, our whole game plan was to play the whole four quarters,” he said.

“We knew they only went seven deep, or six deep really, so we spoke about how we wouldn’t win the game until that fourth quarter.

“Even though they started out really strong, and they’ve always been a team that does that, we wanted to take their best punch and then wear them out in the second half.”

Bradley Rasmussen, Chris Cedar and Jerron Jamerson. Picture: Matthew Forrest

Cedar has taken his game to another level in the postseason, with 39 points against Brisbane in the quarter finals before scoring 27 on Saturday.

Eleven of Cedar’s points against Rip City came in the last quarter, which included three three-pointers.

Khalu said Cedar had approached him after Harry Froling left for NBL duties before the finals started.

“He spoke to me and he said he wanted to be more aggressive without Harry, he said he felt like a bit of a passenger,” Khalu said.

“The last two games he has shown how good he is, and I was never worried about how Chris played during the regular season.

“It’s about winning championships, and showing up when the big game matters, and he’s shown when the game’s on the line he can take those big shots.”

Mackay will now host a best-of-three grand final series against Cairns, after the Dolphins upset ladder-leaders Logan.

Originally published as Mackay Meteors defeat Rip City, book home NBL1 grand finals