South 84 (Sammy Gazzo 19, Lachlan Prest 15, Tom McKenzie 12, Brian Finnis 11) defeated

Centrals 67 (Tom Coffi 17, Matthew Clark, Wade Pidock 9, Zane Reeves, Daniel Carlin 8)

Centrals’ men can’t avoid the bomb shelter but they can finish the season on a high by defeating the Panthers at home and breaking the run of 13 games without a win. South will finish 8th regardless of other results. They have had a disappointing second half to the season with only one win recorded, which was in double overtime against the Southern Tigers in Round 15. There will be interest in how South’s shooting guard Sammy Gazzo and Lachlan Prest perform as well as Lions Wade Pidock and Zane Reeves. All 4 players recently attended an open squad trial with the Adelaide 36ers and will be keen to impress in their final outing for this year. Gazzo in his first season with the Panthers after coming from Victoria is a scoring machine who has amassed 412 points so far this season at 24.2 points per game.  Zane Reeves with a high score of 34 points against the Eagles in Round 7 is also performing well, averaging 16.5ppg and 7.0rpg. In this match it is difficult to predict a winner but South may just sneak home on the back of their form against Forestville last round. 

West 89 (Chris Molitor 26, Kurtis Phillips 21, Brad Davidson 17) defeated

Southern 71 (Shane Boal, Tristian Braithwaite 19, Michael Florence 10, Paul Smith 9)

West fell in against the Rockets last Saturday night, only hitting the front for the first time with 1:35 remaining. In that match Anthony Spadavecchia handed out a round high 11 assists to go with his 7 points and 8 rebounds. In a low scoring game the Bearcats had only Chris Molitor, Josh Bond and Blake Truslove in double figures but finished with all 8 players who saw court time scoring.  In Southern’s loss to Woodville it suited 11 players but on the night only 5 players scored out of the 10 who hit the court, 4 of those finishing in double figures led by Tristan Braithwaite who had 20 points and finished the game high scorer. West has not lost a game since Round 7 when they were defeated by the Sturt Sabres by 8 points. Southern have only won twice since Round 3, both victories achieved against Centrals who have failed to fire this season. With top versus 9th there is little chance of a major upset occurring. West Coach Paul Bell should be able to use this match as a warm up for the approaching second semi-final against winner of the qualifying final next week.

Eastern Mavericks v Woodville Warriors                     Sat, July 24th, 8.15pm at Mount Barker
Eastern 78 (Ben Madgen 26, Brad Hill 17, Shane Breheny 11, Jordan Dodman 9) defeated

Woodville 70 (Rob Cameron 13, Brad Goodchild 11, Mark Egel 10)

When the sides last met Woodville jumped out to an early lead before Eastern clawed their way back into the contest mainly during the second and third terms when they established a small break to lead by 6 points at the start of the last quarter 57-51. In that game, in his first match back for the Mavericks, Ben Madgen finished with 26 points. He has gone on since then to average 25.7ppg, 5.8rpg and 4.2 assists. Woodville would be buoyed by their win over Southern last outing holding them to just 55 points. In that match Josh Knight finished with 24 points his highest score of the season. That was the third time he has hit more than 20 points in a game this season. Eastern had a crack at the Norwood Flames last week but fell short by 3 points after Norwood rallied in the final minutes.  Brad Hill did not play in that match and his inclusion, if he is available to return after injuring himself at 36ers training, would be a boost to the Mavericks’ chances. As with the women Eastern sit in sixth place with Woodville in seventh place. A win by more than 8 points would see Woodville swap places with Eastern on the premiership table. Both clubs have increased the number of wins they recorded in season 2009. Eastern would be favoured to add another one to that tally. 

Norwood 80 (David Cooper 21, Sam Grantham 16, Todd Matthews 15) defeated

Forestville 71 (Nick Blair 14, Riley Luettgerodt 13, Brad Sullivan 11, Brad Gerlach 10)

If Norwood wins this encounter then the prize on offer is a home qualifying final most likely against Sturt. If North falls to Sturt and Forestville win this clash, the Eagles will be rewarded by hosting an elimination final against the Rockets. Last time the Eagles and the Flames met, only a couple of baskets separated the sides throughout the night. Norwood was up by 1 point at halftime 38-37, by 5 at the last break 61-56 and by the conclusion of the match they had edged the margin out to 8 points. In the most recent matches played both clubs had good wins, the Eagles defeating South with an even four quarter performance and the Flames claiming victory with a last quarter fight back against Eastern. Norwood is now at full strength with the return of Dan Thompson and Keith Krause who both started the season late due to injury. Krause put in a good performance against Eastern scoring 19 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Both Scott Arnold and Doug McDonald-Taylor for the Eagles will be in for a big night matching it with the Norwood ‘bigs’ in David Cooper, Krause and Thompson.

With a home court advantage available to the victor, this match should deliver a finals atmosphere with so much at stake for both clubs.

North 81 (Pero Vasilijevic 27, Tom Rowe 19, Nick Hambour 13, Leif Burdon 8) defeated

Sturt 74 (Jacob Holmes 26, Thomas Daly 19, Todd Gower, Nathan Spehr 6)

The finals come early for both clubs with Sturt sitting third on the premiership table with 12 wins and the Rockets sitting fourth with 11 wins. A Sturt win locks in third position and guarantees an appearance in the qualifying final next week. It also forces the Rockets into an elimination final against the Forestville Eagles on the same weekend. Should North win, they would move into the qualifying final and Sturt would be pushed back into the elimination final against the Eagles.  North lost its game against the Bearcats last round by a solitary point after holding the ascendancy for most of the match. Sturt won all four quarters against the Lions at home and was particularly dominant in the third quarter when it outscored Centrals 25-10 on its way to a 25 point win. When the sides last met in Round 9 North’s win was helped by a 21-10 second quarter with North’s Pero Vasilijevic in only his second game for the club scoring 27 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. He is now averaging 22.5ppg and 10.7rpg. In the same game Jacob Holmes also scored a double – double for the Sabres and he is currently averaging 21.6ppg and 13.4rpg. The numbers that these two players produce will have a big bearing on the result. Both clubs enter this game having won 3 out of their last 6 matches and little should separate them at the end of the night.