MANY young stars rose to the occasion in Round 3, as another action-packed weekend took place in the National Basketball League (NBL). Two Cairns jets in Melo Trimble and Devon Hall both had promising weekends while Finn Delany (New Zealand Breakers), Harry Froling (Adelaide 36ers), Brian Bowen (Sydney Kings) and Rhys Vague (Perth Wildcats) all proved convincing with solid performances.

Cairns Taipans – #1 Melo Trimble

Trimble’s 10-point hit-out against Adelaide was different to what we’d seem from him across the first two rounds. But he showed us it was just a minor hiccup on his way to 29 points in game two of the weekend against Sydney. Shooting from anywhere on the court, Trimble went at 57 per cent against the Kings. His 10-point game lowers his average to 24.8 points per game, but he still tops the league. Trimble had six rebounds, three assists and four steals against the 36ers and backed up those stats with four rebounds, eight assists, and three steals on Sunday.

New Zealand Breakers – #3 Finn Delany

Where has this been from Delany!? A whopping 27 points from the Breakers forward, including 11 from 15 in two-point range definitely helped New Zealand to a much-needed win. The leading point-scorer of the match, off the bench, Delany is another young gun who has benefited from extra game time, playing 20 minutes. Across the first three games the Breakers played, he’d averaged 2.0 points a game. He got himself for rebounds against the 36ers as well as his first assists of the season.

Cairns Taipans – #5 Devon Hall

The Cairns starter played over 68 minutes in two days, and despite the Taipans’ fight, they could not get a win. Against Adelaide, Hall scored 12 points, but at a disappointing 33 per cent. Regardless, he had five rebounds and one steal in a dominant game. He had a more well-rounded game against Sydney, again starting. Hall had eight points (at 25 per cent), but was across the court, finishing with six rebounds and three assists.

Adelaide 36ers – #11 Harry Froling

In the match against New Zealand, the Adelaide forward played almost 23 minutes off the bench for 20 points, putting up 14 chances but only going at 50 per cent. He benefited from offensive rebounds (five) to get more baskets for his team and himself, and added four defensive rebounds too. The 36ers played Cairns earlier in the round and between these two games, Froling shot six from six from the line, and has gone nine from 11 for the season.

Sydney Kings – #20 Brian Bowen

Bowen appears in this list again after playing over 30 minutes from the bench in Sydney’s eight-point overtime win over Cairns on Sunday. He scored 11 points once again, including a three-pointer and an 80 per cent strike rate from the line. Bowen also had five rebounds, proving to be consistent in his game play.

Perth Wildcats – #25 Rhys Vague

In a great Wildcats side, it’s been hard for Vague to find consistent game time, but in his 10 minutes against Brisbane, he racked up nine points, including a three-pointer, four rebounds (three offensive), two assists and a block.