Both Maitland men's and women's teams will make the short trip to Sydney this Saturday as they begin their quest to be named NBL1 East conference finals champions.
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The men's team dropped their last two matches to finish in seventh and play second-placed Inner West at North Ryde.
In a new finals format, eight teams will play in quarter finals this weekend before semi-finals and then the grand final at Sydney Uni on Saturday, August 12.
For Mustangs coach Luke Boyle, the knockout format makes the equation simple.
"I think it's a pretty good feat that we've got our way back there," he said. "I suppose no matter which way you look at it you need to win the three games no matter who you're coming up against."
Maitland lost to the Bulls at the Federation Centre in round nine but Boyle believes the Mustangs can get the win on the road.
"It was probably one of the games that turned our season around...we were really disappointed with our start in that game, we started horrendously against them and then won the second-half," he said.
"The big thing for us is they have a couple of guys that do a lot so we've got to find ways to limit their involvement.
"I don't think they can match us offensively when we get going...the good thing is while we're playing second place the boys are really confident and we're an experienced play-offs team where they're not."
Maitland traveled to Albury on Saturday, July 22 and were beaten in an overtime thriller 117-114 at the Lauren Jackson Sports Centre.
James Hunter (25 points) and Will Cranston-Lown (28 points) led the scoring for the visitors.
"I think we can take some positives out of it, we scored a lot of points and that's not our drama at the moment," Boyle said.
"We're going to need to lock-up defensively, even potentially change some things that we've been doing throughout the year.
"We've taken a fair bit of learning out of those last few weeks as well."
Mustangs make historic finals appearance
The Mustangs women's team will make their first finals appearance in 22 years when they face-off against Norths on Saturday night.
The Mustangs finished the home and away season in sixth position meaning they will travel to North Sydney to play the third-placed Bears.
A quarter-final win against the Bears would put them into a semi-final against the winner of the Newcastle-Sydney Comets match.
The Mustangs could have finished as high as fifth position but were beaten 71-67 on the road against Albury Wodonga on Saturday night.
The Bandits raced out to a 15-4 lead early in the first quarter but the visitors rallied to trail by five points at half-time. Shak Reilly (21 points) again led the scoring for the Mustangs while Sydney Hunter registered another (14/10) points rebounds double-double.
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Ben Carr
Starting out as a reporter in Lightning Ridge in 2005, I returned to journalism in 2023 after 15 years spent in event production and technical services. Passionate about community news, contact me on ben.carr@austcommunitymedia.com.au or ph: 0484 524 000
Starting out as a reporter in Lightning Ridge in 2005, I returned to journalism in 2023 after 15 years spent in event production and technical services. Passionate about community news, contact me on ben.carr@austcommunitymedia.com.au or ph: 0484 524 000
