Men's Elimination Final Preview
South Adelaide Panthers v Sturt Sabres
Saturday July 26, 2008, 7:30pm at Marion
South Adelaide Panthers |
Sturt Sabres |
|
Minor Round Record |
4th – 9 wins and 9 losses |
4th – 9 wins and 9 losses |
Head Coach |
Kelly Manning |
Liam Flynn |
Likely Starters |
Daniel Kosmider |
David Shepherd |
Top Scorer |
Mark Fuller – 16.1 ppg |
Mark Paget – 14.4 ppg |
Top Rebounder |
Steve Pilkington – 12.2 rpg |
Mark Paget – 8.9 rpg |
Top Assists |
Steven Williams – 3.3 apg |
David Shepherd – 4.2 apg |
Head to head |
10/5/2008 South Adelaide 88 d Sturt 72 |
Bill Clinton was impeached. North Melbourne won an AFL premiership. American Pie was released (I’m talking the “Stifler” version, not the “day the music died” version). South Adelaide’s men featured in Central ABL finals.
All inspiring events; all occurred in 1999.
Daniel Kosmider is the only Panther remaining from South’s last finals jaunt. Since our league became a part of the ABA (then CBA) in 1998, Kosmider has played 198 games, scored over 1600 points and led the league in assists 3 times. But one of his career highlights must surely have been the game winning shot against Centrals on June 29 which launched South into its first finals series in 9 years.
How does the Panther team differ from the 7th ranked team of 2007? The addition of Justin Halleran, the league’s only import, has certainly helped. He provides 14 points a game that the Panthers didn’t have last year, and has helped fill the void created by Damian Scanlon’s departure. More significant, however, is the form of Luke Frost. Returning from overseas late last year, Frost’s scoring output has jumped from 6.6 to 15.2 points per game, the highest of any of his 7 years in the league.
Sturt took an extra couple of weeks to confirm their finals berth, doing it by defeating South at Pasadena on July 12. It would have been easy to write the Sabres off after Jordan Dodman made a mid-season switch to football, and Marcus Ng went down with a season-ending knee injury on June 21.
Mark Paget, who had been waiting in the wings since first hitting the court in 2004, relished the increased opportunities, leading the team in points and rebounds, and his 31 points against Woodville and 18 rebounds against West were significant factors in Sturt’s comfortable wins over other potential finalists. Sabre guards Mark Bauer and Nathan Vaughan have also been handy, both improving on their scoring averages from 2007.
With evenly matched teams boasting similar sized players at most positions, look for defensive tactics and scouting to play a part in the outcome of this game.
Promotional photo painstakingly prepared by Thomas and Marcus McKenzie.
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