ROUND 5 of the 2023 NBL1 East Men’s season saw Junior Madut deliver the most impressive offensive performance of the season.

Madut led the Norths Bears to a commanding win over the Penrith Panthers when the two sides clashed at North Sydney Indoor Sports Centre on Saturday afternoon. The Bears were coming off their first loss of the season, but had the opportunity to bounce back against a struggling Penrith side in search of its first win.

A 41-19 first quarter was reflective of how the match panned out, with Norths dominating from start to finish and simply overpowering and outclassing the opposition. The home side was able to cruise home to a 113-62 win and get their form back on track.

The biggest talking point out of the match was the performance of Madut, with the NBL free agent delivering an absurd scoring performance, raising the bat with a half century in the points column.

Norths Bears (113) def. Penrith Panthers (62)

Junior Madut – 50 points, seven rebounds, one assist, one steal

It was the performance of the year to date from Madut, who showed just how capable of an offensive player he truly is.

The 26-year-old produced a clear career and game-high points total in the win over Penrith, and was an unstoppable offensive force whenever he had the ball in his hands.

Madut started the game in perfect fashion, breaking away in transition, driving inside and pushing through the contact for an and-one lay-up. It sparked a scoring clinic from the former SEM Phoenix player, who took over across all four quarters and was a constant threat.

Although the team looked to get everyone involved at the start of the game, once Madut started to get his offence rolling, he became the number-one option. He worked extremely hard with and without the ball to create space and fired off his shots with plenty of confidence.

Madut shot an impressive 18/30 from the field, looking extremely capable of knocking down shots across all three levels. As demonstrated by his first involvement in the match, he was not afraid of any contact in the paint, and drove to the rack with intent, either finishing the attack or earning a trip to the free throw line, where he made 11 shots on 13 attempts.

Although it was not his preferred method of scoring, Madut proved more than capable of knocking down shots from behind the three-point line. He hit three triples on five attempts, and although the defence tried to shut down his inside and mid-range game, Madut was still able to punish them from behind the arc.

It was the most explosive scoring performance of the NBL1 season, and should put plenty of NBL teams on notice with his signature still available.