NBL1 Award Winners

Cairns Basketball Inc. is pleased to announce the award winners for the 2022 NBL1 season, with Kenfrost Homes Cairns Dolphins Cayla George and The Ground Cairns Marlins Ben Ayre taking out MVP honours for their 2022 campaigns.

Fresh off winning the WNBL Championship with the Melbourne Boomers, George joined the Dolphins in her anticipated return to Cairns. Despite missing five games due to Opals commitments, the 33-year-old still managed to average an impressive double-double of 23.9 points and 16.7 rebounds per game, to go with 6.8 assists, 2.2 steals, and 1.8 blocks to win MVP.  
 
For the Dolphins, young gun Teyahna Bond secures the Best Defensive Player nod and Ali Burke is named Most Improved Player.
 
Marlins guard Ben Ayre had a breakout campaign with Cairns at the back end of the NBL season and carried his good form to the club’s feeder team. Ayre averaged 24.3 points, 4.1 assists and 3.7 rebounds across 19 games, with his MVP-worthy performances and leadership on the floor earning him a full-time contract with the Taipans.
 
For the Marlins, veteran Curt Ah Wang wins Best Defensive Player and Aron Farmer is recognised as the Most Improved Player.
 
Fan favourites Penina Davidson and Lat Mayen have taken out the Coach’s Award for their respective sides, with both newcomers putting in consistent and entertaining performances in their NBL1 North debuts.
 
Meanwhile, Marlins assistant Will Lopez has been named CBI’s 2022 Club Person of the Year. Lopez fulfilled head coaching duties for both teams numerous times across the season (boasting a brilliant 6-1 win-loss record for Marlins) in addition to his roles as CBI Basketball Development Manager and head of the re-launched Taipans Academy.
 
CBI General Manager Graham Burns said he was proud of this year’s deserving award winners:
 
“On behalf of the Management Committee, I want to congratulate the winners of these awards and thank all our players and coaches for their contributions to Cairns Basketball. We should be so proud that both the Dolphins and Marlins have made the NBL1 North Finals – this is an exceptional accomplishment and an exciting sign of things to come,” said Mr Burns.
 
“I also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved across the competition – the CBI staff, game night crew, volunteers and in particular Mike Scott who has once again delivered another successful season and has been honoured a lifetime membership to the association." 
 
The NBL1 North quarter-finals begin this weekend, with the Marlins hosting the Force Saturday 13 August, 7:00pm (click here for tickets) and the Dolphins travelling to play the Thunder the same evening.

Tonight, the Dolphins will also play in an exhibition game against the University of Wyoming at Cairns Basketball - free entry. Tip-off 6:30pm.