South 96 (Sammy Gazzo 22, Steve Pilkington 19, Luke Frost 13, Adam Blight 10) defeated

Centrals 82 (Zane Reeves 25, Matthew Clarke 14, Daniel Wilson 10)

With little to play for other than pride both clubs entered this match off a season they would rather forget. The Lions’ only win was back in Round 4 when they defeated North Adelaide by 8 points. Their lack of success this year has left them languishing at the foot of the premiership table. South has improved marginally on last season’s form when they recorded only 3 wins and finished 10th.  In this match, Centrals started well outscoring the Panthers 22-21 in the first period but in the second South bounced back with a 32-10 term, setting up the eventual 14 point win, 96-82. The Lions outscored the Panthers in the third 29-21 and in the last only 1 point separated the sides, South prevailing 22-21. For the victors Sammy Gazzo again top scored as he has on a number of occasions this season – he finished with an average 24.1ppg playing all 18 matches. For Centrals, Zane Reeves was their leading scorer finishing the year with an average of 16.9ppg and 7.3rpg to be one of the standout players for the Lions during the season. As the season has progressed Reeves’ form has improved - he has been a lot more consistent in the second half finishing their leading scorer in the last 6 matches. Whereas, for the Panthers, Gazzo was their leading scorer in 17 of the 18 minor round games he played.

Southern 86 (Tristian Braithwaite 21, Matthew Williams 18, Shane Boal 17) defeated

West 82 (Kurtis Phillips, Chris Molitor 21, Josh Bond 13, Blake Truslove 12)

In a major upset of the season the Southern Tigers produced a thrilling overtime victory  against the minor premier West Adelaide, with final scores 86-82. The Tigers entered the game with only one win from their last 12 outings and West entered the match with only one loss from their last 15 games, having won the last 10 in a row. At three quarter time West were in front 61-57. Guard, Anthony Spadavecchia scored in the first 13 seconds of the last quarter to increase the margin, but the next 3 baskets to the Tigers levelled the scores. As the quarter progressed only a couple of baskets separated the sides. At 4:38 after a Chris Molitor basket, scores were level 68-68. Then with 2 minutes to play a Matthew Williams basket edged the Tigers 3 points clear, 74-71. Blake Truslove then scored for the Bearcats with only 1 point separating the sides until a Shane Boal foul shot with 15 seconds remaining had the Tigers set for an unlikely victory. Truslove scored again levelling the scores at the end of regulation time 75-75. Southern sprinted away in the overtime period with Tristan Braithwaite, Joel Goodenough and Shane Boal all combining for 11 points. Kurtis Phillips and Chris Molitor scored late baskets in the extension to bring West within 2 points, 82 -84 before Boal sealed it from the free throw line converting both foul shots. West now have two weeks to regroup before they face either Sturt or Norwood in the second semi final.

Eastern Mavericks v Woodville Warriors, Sat, July 24th, 8.15pm at Mount Barker Eastern 98 (Ben Madgen 35, Brad Hill 24, Shane Breheny 20, Jordan Dodman 11) defeated

Woodville 82 (Josh Knight 28, Mark Egel 14, Ben McKay 9, Cameron Wilson 8)

The Mavericks men started well with 3 pointers to Shane Breheny and Ben Madgen and when Brad Hill joined in, the locals further extended the margin. By the end of the quarter the ‘big 4’ of Hill, Madgen, Breheny and Jordan Dodman had all scored. With just over two minutes of play remaining in the first period Hill exerted his dominance on the match hitting 3 consecutive 3 point shots from downtown in 48 seconds of play to bust the game wide open in favour of Eastern. A further basket to Hill and Ben Dearman as the quarter ended only sealed the fate of the Warriors who entered the match with a win against the Southern Tigers. For the remaining 3 quarters of the game Eastern added 65 points to its quarter time total and Woodville added 66. The Mavericks maintained a 20 point margin for most of the match and always looked to be in control.  After the first quarter onslaught Woodville was never able to seriously challenge for the lead. However, Mark Egel’s four 3 point baskets in the last period did help reduce the margin to under 20 points by the conclusion of the game.  Hill’s overall output was diminished when he found himself on the bench restricted by foul trouble. Madgen saw more minutes than he may have with Hill’s absence; he went on to be the game high scorer with 35 points. Josh Knight was a standout for Woodville, finishing their game high scorer with 28 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.  

Forestville 85 (Riley Luettgerodt 38, Brad Sullivan 13, N Blair, D MacDonald-Taylor 10) def Norwood 83 (Todd Matthews 17, Keith Krause 16, David Cooper 14) 

The Eagles appeared to be heading for a comfortable victory when they led at halftime 50-34 after a dominant second period when they outscored the Flames 33-16. Forestville would have been expected to struggle in the ‘big man’ department with the loss of Scott Arnold for this encounter, as he has been a solid contributor for the Eagles over recent weeks. At the last break after a buzzer beater from Brad Haydon the Eagles were still in control leading by 15 points, 70-55.  Against the trend of play Norwood staged a remarkable comeback in the last mainly due to the efforts of Todd Matthews and the outside shooting of Keith Krause who hit two 3 pointers. With less than 5 minutes to play the Flames closed to within 4 points, 75-71. As the pressure increased, players from both sides missed opportunities they would normally nail.  As the minutes ran down all the momentum was with the visitors and after a basket to Krause with 1:44 remaining scores were level 81-81 and it was anyone’s game.  Eagles import, Riley Luettgerodt who had been a scoring machine during the night gave the Eagles the lead with 43 seconds to play. After a time out, when played resumed Todd Matthews was fouled driving to the basket with only 7 seconds remaining. He converted both free throws awarded, Norwood back in front. Forestville Coach Andy Simons called for a timeout to work a play and manufacture a win. Luettgerodt became the hero when he banked the winning shot with 2 seconds left denying the Flames an unlikely victory, scores 85-83. Forestville now faces an elimination final at home against North and Norwood a qualifying final away against Sturt.

Sturt 91 (Darren Ng 30, Jacob Holmes 18, Thomas Daly 13, Marcus Ng 8) defeated

North 71 (Tom Rowe 20, Pero Vasilijevic 19, Michael Zorich 9, Nick Hambour 8)

Sturt claimed a home qualifying final against Norwood after it disposed of the North Adelaide Rockets at Hillcrest. The win was achieved on the back of a good second and fourth quarter performance when it set up the final 20 point margin. The Sabres won the second, 30-20 and the last 20-10 with the other 2 quarters being line ball with both teams compiling 41 points for those periods combined. In the Sabres’ win, Darren Ng was their leading scorer with an even four quarter performance, his 30 points scored at 48% which included five 3 pointers. For North, Tom Rowe was their leading scorer with 20 points with seven of those coming from the foul line when he hit 7 out of 8 shots taken at a high conversion rate of 88%. The effectiveness of Pero Vasilijevic who finished with 19 points and 16 rebounds was offset by the return that Sturt’s Jacob Holmes produced when he finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds. North will need to work on their outside shooting before they front for next week’s elimination final. In this match they converted only 2 of 17 shots taken from outside the arc at a poor return of 12%, the Sabres ten 3 pointers scored at 43%.