Darwin Salties defeat Southern Districts Spartans 3-0 in Round 5 of NWBL 2025
The three-peat is looking more and more likely for the Darwin Salties with another imperious performance away from home. Recap the Salties Round 5 exploits here.
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The Darwin Salties lit it up on the road once again, putting together another 3-0 series sweep across the border over the weekend
The back-to-back NWBL champions proved too strong for the Brisbane-based Southern Districts Spartans, extending their standing atop the ladder with an 11-1 record.
Sammy White and Alex Blackmore were both welcomed inclusions back into the Salties rotation replacing Melissa Dunn.
Tom O’Neill-Thorne took charge of the side in game one with an MVP calibre performance, leading his team to a 36 point victory.
On the court for 35:16 mins, O’Neill-Thorne was in classic form finishing one assist shy of a triple-double.
Weston Tedcastle put together his best outing of season 2025 to date with a notable 14 point contribution in as many minutes off the bench.
Game two saw league leading points scorer Jaylen Brown take over proceeding with a 29 point performance – a steal and two assists short of a quadruple double – while Jannik Blair showed the league he’s a threat in the paint, putting up his best contribution to date with 14pts.
The third and final game proved the closet of the lot.
The Salties got off to a quick start in the first period before Districts kept pace in the second and third, till Darwin secured the three ladder points with a strong fourth.
Game three saw the starters put in big shifts, with O’Neill-Thorne and Brown leading the way yet again on the scorers sheet.
Surprisingly, and a good sign for the side, Blair was among the action once more, besting his game two numbers with 16pts, shooting 80 per cent from the field.
RESULTS
G1) Salties 83 def. 47 Spartans
– Tom O’Neill-Thorne: 29pts, nine assists, 13 rebounds, five steals
– Jaylen Brown: 15pts, four assists, nine rebounds, two steals
– Luis Edwardo Jasso: 12pts, three assists, 12 rebounds, two blocks, five steals
– Weston Tedcastle: 12pts, one assist, one rebound
G2) Salties 88 def. 51 Spartans
– Jaylen Brown: 29pts, eight assists, 12 rebounds, one block, nine steals
– Luis Edwardo Jasso: 17pts, two assists, five rebounds
– Jannik Blair: 14pts, one rebound
– Tom O’Neill-Thorne: 14pts, 12 assists, one block, four rebounds, three steals
G3) Salties 89 def. 58 Spartans
– Jaylen Brown: 26pts, seven assists, 10 rebounds, one block, two steals
– Tom O’Neill-Thorne: 26pts, 11 assists, five rebounds, two steals, one block
– Jannik Blair: 16pts, two rebounds, one assist
‘Frustrated’ Salties down Southern Titans, go second on ladder
The Darwin Salties triumphantly brushed aside the visiting Southern Districts Titans on home turf at the weekend.
Facing Southern Districts’ development side, the Salties were a class above, particularly in the first clash.
Darwin had the run of play all night, but it was a cameo from Clarence ‘CJ’ McCarthy-Grogan late in the third that stole the show.
In front of a near capacity audience that included Darwin Basketball Cyclones, local fans and primary school classes, CJ subbed into the contest to a big applause.
Feeling himself, CJ rolled up the court with the Spalding, fired off orders before sinking an uncontested three.
It was a copy and paste seconds later as CJ again rolled up the court, took his mark and drained another three.
CJ then did it again less than 30 seconds later, nearly bringing the house down in the process.
Then when the stands had calmed down CJ drained his fourth in a row in less than two minutes.
The second game was a closer one, however the Salties still came away with a comfortable 47 point victory, spearheaded by another 30 plus performance from Jaylen Brown.
The third and final game on Sunday was a bit of an underwhelming one, despite the large margin of victory.
Feeling the effects of being without starting guard Sammy White and low point replacement Alex Blackmore, the Darwin side looked out of sorts in the second half of the game.
The Titans actually outscored the Salties 17-16 in the third and pressured them all through the fourth, leaving Jannik Blair frustrated by the situation, compounding his overall thoughts on his team’s performance throughout the round.
“It’s always tough when you’re missing one of your starters (White) and main low point rotation (Blackmore),” Blair said.
“In the first game I felt like we played really well.
“Our defence was on point, we were flowing in offence and we had the game under control through all four quarters.
“Then in the second game we struggled a bit.
“We still won by a convincing margin but it felt like our standards dropped and they (Titans) broke down our defence more frequently.
“Then in the third game I feel like it was even more difficult to not get a bit frustrated with some moments.
“Again, we won which is great and now puts us second on the ladder but it was sloppy and I know we can all play better than what we did.”
The 3-0 result has put the Salties second on the ladder with an 8-1 record.
RESULTS
G1) Salties 96 def. 30 Titans
– Jaylen Brown: 32pts, 12 assists, 13 rebounds, six steals
– Luis Edwardo Jasso: 23pts, one assist, 10 rebounds, one block, two steals
– Clarence McCarthy-Grogan: 20pts, six assists, two rebounds, one steal, 4/6 from three
G2) Salties 87 def. 40 Titans
– Jaylen Brown: 34pts, six assists, 14 rebounds, five steals
– Luis Edwardo Jasso: 27pts, two assists, one block, seven rebounds, two steals
– Tom O’Neill-Thorne: 16pts, 11 assists, five rebounds, two steals
G3) Salties 84 def. 41 Titans
– Jaylen Brown: 33pts, two assists, seven rebounds, one block, one steal
– Tom O’Neill-Thorne: 22pts, 11 assists, four rebounds, five steals
– Luis Edwardo Jasso: 11pts, six assists, nine rebounds, one block, one steal
Darwin Salties out to defend the Croc Pot against lowly Titans
The Darwin Salties are out to defend the Croc Pot at Marrara this weekend as they square off with the Brisbane based Southern Districts Titans.
Off the back of a successful campaign in Perth last round the Salties are hoping to emulate last week’s winning ways with another series whitewash, for seven wins on the trot.
Unfortunately for the Queenslanders, the contest might as well be declared before it even begins.
As it stands Darwin boast a 5-1 record while the Queensland side are yet to win a game, with a 0-9 record and a -207 points difference.
The games might be a little bit closer than anticipated however with a number of changes to the line-up for the series.
Sammy White will miss the games this weekend having caught an illness within the last couple of days and youngster Alex Blackmore will also miss this weekend’s clashes, rostered off as part of squad rotation.
This means that the Salties will most likely rely more heavily on veteran Melissa Dunn to fill in that guard type position.
Territorian Weston Tedcastle will return to the line-up having missed out on the Perth trip due to work commitments and Will Crooks will also be returning to the line-up having missed the Perth series due to illness.
During Wednesday evening’s training session, head coach Tracy York said she’s expecting this round to be more comfortable than their previous two meetings, but does not want to see her approach the Titans with any less ambition or killer instinct.
“We know that the Titans don’t have the same strength of squad as we do,” York said.
“I’m looking for the guys to play with the same mindset as if it was the top team as it’s a good opportunity for us to keep our standards up, while getting some quality minutes into our players.”
Rd. 4 GAME TIMES:
G1) Friday, 7pm at Marrara
G2) Saturday, 6pm at Marrara
G3) Sunday, 9am at Marrara
3x3) Friday, 6pm at Marrara
3x3) Saturday, 5pm at Marrara
White-wash: Darwin Salties smash Perth 3-0 away from home
The Darwin Salties have proved once again why they are title favourites with an imperious 3-0 series victory over the Perth Wheelcats.
On their first road trip of the season, the Salties dominated the Cats in all three games, winning every quarter and outscoring them 268 to 136.
The Salties played with an undermanned team with just nine players to Perth’s 12, Weston Tedcastle and Will Crooks out, but did enjoy the inclusion of stalwart Melissa Dunn.
However the player numbers held no bars on the final results, with all members of the squad getting good minutes across the three five aside and two 3x3 clashes.
Darwin dominated the Cats in game one as Tom O’Neill-Thorne and Jaylen Brown both dropped 30 bombs to lead the side to a 57 point victory.
Game two proved a bit more of a challenge for the reigning champs.
Restricted to 77 points, it was the perfect storm for new overseas recruit Luis Edwardo Jasso and fellow new recruit Alex Blackmore to get into the thick of the action.
The third and final clash was once again all one way traffic, winning in 98 to 55 scoreline.
However, the Salties aren’t steamrollering the competition for no reason.
Under new head coach Tracy York, the crew have been playing with much more structure; a through the paint style of play that has seen the team become deadly from the key.
Such is the dominance – having played three less games no less – the team and Brown, O’Neill-Thorne and Jasso are top of the pops statistically.
As it stands, Brown is third in overall points, first in average points (28.8), second in average assists (O’Neill-Thorne first), second and first in two points made and two points average per game, first in average free throws made, third in rebounds and third in steals.
Further backing up the sides dominance in the paint, the Salties sit first in the league for field goal percentage, free throw percentage and third overall for total points scored.
The Salties now sit in fourth place on the table with a winning record of 5-1.
RESULTS
G1) Salties 93 def. 36 Wheelcats
– Tom O’Neill-Thorne: 31pts, 12 assists, seven rebounds, four steals
– Jaylen Brown: 30pts, six assists, 14 rebounds, four steals
– Luis Edwardo Jasso: 16pts, one assist, seven rebounds, three steals
G2) Salties 77 def. 45 Wheelcats
– Jaylen Brown: 23pts, nine assists, 12 rebounds, one steal
– Luis Edwardo Jasso: 16pts, two assists, seven rebounds, four steals
– Tom O’Neill-Thorne: 15pts, 10 assists, three rebounds, one steal
– Clarence McCarthy-Grogan: 13pts, four assists, three rebounds, one steal
G3) Salties 98 def. 55 Wheelcats
– Jaylen Brown: 36pts, 13 assists, nine rebounds, two steals
– Tom O’Neill-Thorne: 19pts, 12 assists, six rebounds, four steals, one block
– Luis Edwardo Jasso: 18pts, two assists, 10 rebounds, three steals, two blocks
‘Humbled’ Darwin Salties kick-off title defence with stellar 2-1 home series win
The Darwin Salties Wheelchair have prevailed in their first test of the new season title defence.
However it wasn't all smooth sailing for the back-to-back defending national champions.
Hosting Wollongong Hawks, the team they defeated to take out last year’s national title, the Salties secured two of a possible three wins to kickstart their campaign.
The Darwin side had a clinical game one, downing the Hawks by 21 points in a dominant outing.
The night wasn’t without controversy though as Wollongong took exception to Darwin’s dominance, leading to a number of their players becoming verbal and physical with a number of the Salties.
Such was the discourse, a small scuffle broke out, resulting in hands thrown and players ending up on the hardwood floor.
Cooler heads prevailed in the second clash, however, it was the Hawks who came away with the victory via a stellar showing.
Wollongong took the Salties by surprise, using their killer deep range shooting and set pieces, dismantling the Salties defence.
Compounding the issue, the locals couldn’t buy a bucket, with shooting percentage down the wazoo in an uncharacteristic showing.
The third and final clash saw the Salties reign supreme once again, with the Hawks this time unready for the onslaught of offence pressure.
After the game, Salties’ Jannik Blair said his side fell foul of believing their own hype after the mammoth first game victory.
“Because we had such a great result in the first game I do think that we came out collectively with our guards down,” he said.
“They (Hawks) were on fire and it got us into such a state where we had no counter.
“Our shots weren't landing and defensively we weren’t up to our best.”
Blair did say that such a result so early in the season is actually a good thing, explaining that his side must always switch on regardless of the opponent.
“In a way it humbled us,” he said.
“It’s good to have a loss like this as it means that we can’t just go out and expect to win (without the effort).
“Today (third game) we played much more like ourselves. We were far more structured, disciplined and actually made our shots.”
The champions will take on the Perth Wheelcats in Perth this weekend for Round 3 of the NWBL regular season.
RESULTS
Game 1) Salties 80 def. 59 Hawks
– Jaylen Brown: 28pts, five assists, 17 rebounds, three steals
– Luis Edwardo Jasso: 25pts, four assists, 12 rebounds, three steals
– Tom O’Neill Thorne: 11pts, 15 assists, three rebounds
Game 2) Hawks 77 def. 69 Salties
– Luis Edwardo Jasso: 28pts, one block, 10 rebounds, two steals
– Jaylen Brown: 26pts, eight assists, 10 rebounds one steal
– Clarence McCarthy-Grogan: 8pts, five assists, nine rebounds, one steal
Game 3) Salties 90 def. 66 Hawks
– Tom O’Neill Thorne: 30pts, six assists, three rebounds, two steals
– Jaylen Brown: 30pts, 12 assists, 12 rebounds, four steals
– Luis Edwardo Jasso: 14pts, two assists, one block, nine rebounds, three steals
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