Last week was a very tense week for Melbourne Tigers fans as finals hopes were on the line and against Casey, the last two minutes of game time were agony especially when watching the live scores.

It as 89-92 approaching two minutes to go when Casey closed back in, Tigers extended their lead, Casey closed back in, it was three points when Tom Wilson hit a two to make it back out to five with 35 seconds left, it was 93-91 with 25 seconds left when a free throw and a two pointer allowed Casey to close back in.

Successful free throws to Tom Wilson (1) and Jack Purchase (2) extended the margin back out to 96-91 but a quick three pointer made it 96-94 with fifteen seconds left then Michael Wearne hit one from two three throws to extend the margin back out to three and the game was over when Casey turned the ball over with five seconds to go.

The Tigers Men won by 3 points and they were finals bound; the next night they defeated Waverley to finish the season in sixth spot.

Sadly, the Tigers Women missed out on finals, the young Tigers were missing some stars and had lost their last two games while Ringwood played their last game five days before the end of the season and had to wait to secure the eighth and final spot on the table.

The Tigers Women ended their season with a 12-10 season, a result equal with Sandringham and Ringwood but Ringwood had the better record to go through.

So tonight, it is Melbourne vs. Ballarat in the Mens competition Elimination Final, the Miners will be aiming to avenge a 103-78 loss to the Tigers in May this year and the Tigers hope to beat the Miners at home and continue on towards the Grand Final.

What a season it has been.

Go Tigers.

Friday night saw the Tigers host the Kilsyth Cobras and it was a mixed bag of results for the Tigers.

Women

After falling to the Sabres in the season opener, the Tigers aimed to get on the board against the Cobras and started off with a 25-20 lead at the end of the first period of play.

Kilsyth outscored the Tigers 23-20 to cut the Tigers lead down to two with the score 45-43 at the main break.

The Tigers hit the gas in the third period by outscoring the Cobras 29 to 20 to lead by twelve at the end of the third period.

Scoring slowed down in the fourth period, but the Tigers outscored the Cobras, 16 to 14 to win by sixteen points, the final score was 90-76.

Sara Blicavs led the Tigers scoring with 24 points with Isobel Borlase right behind with 23 points.

Men

After beating the Sabres in the season opener, the Tigers Men had a chance to make it two in a row by beating the Cobras.

The men started positively by leading at the end of the first period 24 to 19, Kilsyth struck back to outscore the Tigers 27 to 17 to take a five-point lead at the main break with the score 46-41.

Kilsyth extended their lead by outscoring the Tigers 17 to 11 and creating an eleven point lead at the end of the third period.

The Tigers got going in the last period but were unable to make serious inroads on the margin, they did outscore the Cobras 25 to 22 but fell short by eight points, the final scores were 85 to 77.

Tom Wilson topped the scoring for the Tigers with 22 points followed by Mason Gaze with 20 points and Jack Purchase with 19 points, 3-point shooting was the Tigers Archilles Heel with the Tigers scoring from just 28.57% of attempts to the Cobras 50% of attempts.

Up Next

Tuesday night sees the Tigers travel to Diamond Valley to take on the Eagles, The Mens team (1-1) is 9th and play 16th (1-2) while the Women are ninth (1-1) and they take on the Eagles team that sit seventeenth (0-3) on the ladder.

The first game of the 2025 NBL1 South season for both Men and Women has been played for the Melbourne Tigers, and it was a mixed bag of results.

The Tigers Women fell just short against the Sabres, they led the first period 20-13 before being outscored 24-21 in the second to hold a narrow halftime lead, Sandringham hit the front in the third to finish the period leading by two and while the Tigers equalled with a minute fourteen to go, Sandringham pulled ahead to win by five.

Izzy Borlase topped the Tigers scoresheet with 25 points with Sara Blicavs scoring 20 points.

The Tigers Men were up next, and they came out firing by blowing Sandringham out of the water 35 to 8 at the end of the first period, Sandringham got going in the second period, but the Tigers piled on 31 points to 22 to lead 66 to 30 at the break.

The third period was more equal at the Tigers outscored the Sabres 20-18 before Sandringham outscored the Tigers 21-14 to end the end with the score being 100 to 69.

Tom Wilson led all scorers with 30 points followed by Jack Purchase with 25, the duo bringing in 55% of the Tigers score.

Friday night the Tigers are home once again as they play Kilsyth at MSAC from 5:30pm, make sure Tigers fans that you go if you are able to.

The Casey Cavaliers are coming to MSAC tonight and the defeat of the visitors will be pivotal in the hopes of playoffs for both Tigers teams

The Mens loss to Keilor last week was not ideal but it wasn’t all bad news, the Tigers are still 12th on the ladder and eighth is still a win away though Frankston does have a game in hand

The Womens playoff hopes are strong too, while they lost to Keilor, they are still just a win behind Geelong and Eltham for the eighth spot but the Tigers have a game in hand so they are well in contention for that eighth spot, but they will have to have to keep winning and hope Geelong and Eltham hope lose two games more than the Tigers to fall out of contention and give the Tigers eighth, it can be done.

Geelong, Frankston, Kilsyth, Bendigo, Ballarat, Mt Gambier and Waverley await after the Casey game, the bad news for the Men is that all but Geelong and Kilsyth are above them on the ladder but when the Tigers are on song, they can challenge and beat the higher up teams.

For the Women, Kilsyth, Ballarat, Frankston and Waverley are all behind the Tigers, Geelong is fighting with the Tigers for that eighth spot, Bendigo and Mt Gambier are fifth and sixth but realistically, eighth is likely the best the Tigers are going to get.

It is going to be interesting these last few weeks of the season, it has been a good year compared to last year, but we always have to desire more.

The Tigers Men were heading down a fruitless path early on this NBL1 South season, four consecutive losses at the start frustrated fans who are looking for the Tigers to make a finals appearance after a couple of fruitless seasons.

Six wins from eight games have squared the ledger at 6-6 as eight teams are in line for the eighth spot on the ladder and a chance of finals action, last weekend’s 84-78 win against the Spectres was revenge against the fellow ex-NBL team who had enjoyed an 89-74 win over the Tigers in the second game of the season.

A win against Keilor will make it 7-6 and cut into the two-game advantage that Keilor has for seventh position on the ladder, Nunawading beat Keilor 98-77 on May 19 which makes things interesting, after Keilor is Casey who are having a horrible season so far with a 2-10 record and while a win sounds almost a certainty, complacency has brought down many teams in the past so the Tigers better be at their best.

The Tigers Women swept the Spectres for the year as they had won 86-79 in the second game of the season and bagged a 94-87-win last weekend.

The women are ninth on the ladder with a 6-6 record and are fighting with Eltham for that eighth spot as Ringwood in seventh has a two-win lead on the former two sides, it won’t be easy for the women as Keilor has a 12-1 record for the year, Casey who will be up next is 17th with a 3-9 record.

The Tigers cannot afford to go 6-8 and they most certainly can end the weekend at 7-7 or 6-7, the latter will make finals a stronger but not a certain possibility especially with top teams like Mt Gambier and Waverley awaiting the Tigers Men late in the season while the Women play sides around the Tigers ladder position.

It almost didn’t happen, but the Melbourne Tigers swept the weekend for the first time in 2024 with the Men now got two in the win column and four for the women.

Women

The women entered the weekend with a nice 2-2 record, Waverley led at the first break, before the Tigers got a small lead at the half, they extended it in the third and then extended the margin by one in the last to win it 68-56.

The next night saw the Tigers take on Diamond Valley, the Tigers got out to a four-point lead at the end of the first, maintained the margin at the half, doubled the margin at the end of the third and increased the lead by three at the last to win it 83-72.

Men

The men were losing to Waverley 93-92 and seemingly heading for a 0-5 record when Mason Gaze took a shot in the final seconds to win it for the Tigers, hearts were broken when the shot missed but Callum Barker under immense pressure managed to get one arm above the Waverley defence and put the ball in fractions of a second before time ran out to get the Men on the board for season 2024.

The next night, the Tigers Men faced Diamond Valley and the men came home with an 89-79 victory over the Eagles to make their record a much better 2-4 which is better than 1-5 or 0-6.

The Men have moved up to sixteenth on the ladder out of the nineteen but it is not all bad news because teams up to fifth have three wins so a run could push the Tigers up the order, it must be taken into account that teams have played between four and seven games.

Coming Up

Just the one game this weekend for both Tigers teams, they are back at MSAC to take on the Eltham Wildcats with the women playing at 5:30pm followed by the Men at 7:30pm so if you want to have a great night out, head on out to MSAC.

Go Tigers.