Sturt Sabres (4-5, 7th) v Norwood Flames (8-1, 1st)

The Sturt Sabres will be hoping for redemption when they host the Norwood Flames at the special time of 6.30pm in Saturday’s Match of the Round.

When the teams last met, the Flames overcame a slow start to finish 68-61 winners.

Since then, Norwood has lost just once, by one point to Forestville in Round 6.

Sturt, meanwhile, is languishing in seventh position with four wins and five losses.

The reigning champions are already in serious danger of missing the finals, and a loss here would add salt to the wound.

Jacob Holmes is averaging close to a triple-double with 17.6 rpg, 17.2 ppg and 8.6 apg.

The Sabres forward has not played since May 7 against Woodville, but will be back for this one.

However, Tom Daly will miss this game.

Darren Ng is the club’s leading scorer at 22 ppg, and is shooting 39.7% from beyond the arc.

For Norwood, sharp-shooter Andrew Webber is the high point man at 15.2 ppg, while David Cooper has overcome a slow start to the year, averaging 19 ppg, 12 rpg and 2.5 bpg over his past four matches.

The Sabres have only one home victory, while Norwood is unbeaten away, so these statistics point to a Flames win.

South Adelaide Panthers (4-5, 6th) v Central District Lions (1-8, 10th)

South will be hoping to keep its finals hopes alive when it battles the Central District Lions at Marion on Saturday.

The Panthers are just outside the five with a 4-5 record, but are 3-1 at home; their only loss was in overtime to Woodville. 

Centrals have won just the once this season.

Daniel Johnson is the league’s second-leading scorer at 26.4 ppg, and is third in rebounding with 12.3 ppg.

Johnson missed the previous match against the Lions, which his team still won 101-79.

Josh Kollasch is Centrals’ star play, averaging 15.8 ppg, 11.2 rpg and 4.6 apg.

However, Kollasch only scored 11 in his last outing, after scoring 39 two rounds ago.

Look for the Panthers to continue their strong home form and win back to back games for the first time since Rounds 1-2.

Southern Tigers (2-7, 9th) v Forestville Eagles (6-3, 3rd)

The Tigers will be eager to start a mid-season revival when they play host to the Eagles on Saturday.

A loss would see Southern drop to the bottom of the ladder if Centrals beat South.

However, a win could put it within two games of the top five if results go its way.

The Eagles are sitting in third position, but are just one win ahead of North, whom they lost to in Round 9.

When the two sides met in Round 1, Southern produced its best away performance of the season, but lost 72-80.

Marcus Robinson is the Tigers’ leading scorer, averaging 13.9 ppg, while shooting 55.4% from the field.

Forestville will need to box out Codey Ellison and Michael Florance, who are averaging a combined 16.2 rpg.

For the Eagles, Rashad Tucker has been lighting up the stat sheet, averaging 20.8 ppg, 14.1 rpg and 4.7 apg.

Tucker leads the league in total rebounds (127).

Brad Sullivan has averaged 23 ppg over his last four matches and connected on 15-38 three-pointers.

Ultimately, I think the Eagles will be too strong, and cement third place on the ladder.

West Adelaide Bearcats (7-2, 2nd) v Eastern Mavericks (3-6, 8th)

Surprising strugglers the Eastern Mavericks will be hoping to turn their season around when they travel to Port Adelaide to face the second-place Bearcats.

The Mavs have lost their last four matches, including an 86-94 defeat to South in Round 9.

Brad Hill is averaging a league-high 27.1 ppg, as well as an impressive 9.9 rpg.

Ben Madgen has offered plenty of support with 20.4 ppg while shooting 40.7% from beyond the arc, while Aaron Bruce is averaging 18.3 ppg and 6.6 apg.

Bruce’s 6.6 apg ranks first amongst players who have played all nine matches.

Eastern came agonisingly close to defeating West in the teams’ last meeting, going down 85-86.

Although there was not much between the teams on that night, the Bearcats have proven to be a much better side since, winning six of seven before a 63-68 loss to Norwood.

Jeff Dowdell has been in super form with 24.3 ppg on 50.7% shooting, as well as 11.3 rpg.

David Nurse has been the other consistent performer with 16.3 ppg and 5.8 rpg, while a host of other players have stepped up at different times, including Anthony Spadavecchia and Blake Truslove.

The Mavs best basketball is brilliant, and if they can bring it for four quarters, then there is no reason why they cannot pinch a win.

However, West has been a far more consistent team, so I will go for them in a close one.

Woodville Warriors (5-4, 5th) v North Adelaide Rockets (5-4, 4th)

Every year, there seems to be a least one team which defines the odds.

At the halfway mark of Season 2011, there are two sides which have done so.

This Saturday at St Clair, the surprise packets of the competition, Woodville and North, meet for the second time this season.

These two teams could not be more different in personnel structure, with the Warriors recruiting some key players from other clubs, while North had a massive clearout at the end of last year and turned to youth for success.

The Rockets’ procedure appeared to be backfiring after four consecutive losses to start the year, but five straight wins have seen them jump to fourth on the ladder.

At the forefront of the attack have been 20 year olds Matthew Lycett (13.7 ppg, 9.3 rpg), Josh Bond (15.2 ppg, 44.4% 3FG) and Rhys Elliott (10.6 ppg, 50% FG), along with Ryan Franceschinis (16.3 ppg, 6.6 rpg), Tom Rowe (12.2 ppg) and the now-departed Rhys Carter (13.4 ppg).

The Rockets will no doubt miss Carter, but Brandon Brine should be in the line-up for his third game of the year.

The Warriors have been getting the job done via Josh Knight (13.9 ppg, 7.6 rpg), Zane Reeves (12.8 ppg, 5.3 rpg), Cameron Wilson (11.3 ppg, 6.2 apg, 5 rpg) and Gary Birmingham (10.5 ppg).

Import Colin Matteson has given his team a massive boost since replacing Joseph Campbell, averaging 21.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg and 7.3 FTA over three games.

The last time the Warriors met the Rockets, Birmingham hit the final shot of the game with three seconds remaining in a 94-93 victory.

Expect this to be a similar sort of game.

North has won 11 of its last 13 road games, with both losses to the tune of just one point.

On that note, I will give the Rockets the edge.

 By James Woite