Forestville Eagles (13-5, 2nd) v West Adelaide Bearcats (11-7, 4th), 8.15 pm Saturday @ Pasadena

Forestville will be eager to get back to its best form when it takes on West Adelaide in the Preliminary Final on Saturday.

The winner will face Norwood next week in the Grand Final, while it is curtains for the loser.

Wayville is unavailable due to Royal Show preparations, so neither team will have home court advantage, with Pasadena chosen as the alternate venue.

Both teams have unblemished records at Pasadena this season, with the Bearcats winning there twice, and the Eagles getting home once.

However, for either West or Forestville, the winning run at the home of the Sabres will end on Saturday.

The Eagles began their finals campaign with a convincing 104-92 victory over Sturt in the Qualifying Final, where they registered their highest score of the season.

They looked to be on track to repeat their massive tally when they led Norwood 26-24 at quarter-time last week, after bouncing back from a 0-8 deficit.

However, Forestville was outscored 59-80 after the first period and lost 85-104.

The Eagles’ defence was only good enough to prevent 39 per cent of the Flames’ field goal attempts from going in, while they only shot 42 per cent from the field themselves.

Forestville struggled with foul trouble all night, which grew as a problem as the game progressed.

Rashad Tucker (12 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists) fouled out of the game, while Adam Doyle and Nic Blair (16 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals each), Brad Sullivan (16 points), Trent Fildes (13 points, 3/3 3FG, 5 rebounds), and Majok Deng (10 points, 8 rebounds, 7 fouls drawn) each picked up four fouls.

The Eagles, who were without James Boonstoppel and Neil Mottram, have now lost two out of three.

In contrast, the previously slumping Bearcats have hit form when it counts most.

West took charge in the fourth quarter of its Elimination Final, outscoring North 31-11 over the final 10 minutes for an 86-61 victory.

Even more impressive was the way the Bearcats dismantled Sturt last week.

West took control early and built a 46-29 lead by intermission.

The Sabres got within nine three times in the fourth quarter, but the Bearcats had all the answers, eventually winning 81-70.

David Nurse scored 23 points and grabbed five rebounds.

In addition, Nurse sealed the game a trey that gave his team a 12 point lead with under two minutes remaining.

That was one of his five threes on the night.

As a team, the ’Cats scored 15 extra points from downtown.

Nurse was well-supported by Blake Truslove, who had 23 points, 11 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks.

Jeff Dowdell (10 points, 14 rebounds) was not as prolific offensively as he normally is, but held Jacob Holmes to 2 points on 1/15 shooting.

Tristan Braithwaite added 11 points, while Anthony Spadavecchia had 6 dimes.

Based on the head-to-head results between these teams this season, both clubs appear evenly matched.

In Round 5, the Bearcats came from behind to win 75-68 at Port Adelaide.

Their 51-30 edge in rebounds was the decisive factor.

However, when the teams met again in Round 11, it was Forestville who finished the stronger, getting home 88-83 at Wayville.

Dowdell missed that match, although West still dominated the boards.

However, the Bearcats had nine extra turnovers and conceded 13 more free throw attempts.

The key matchup this week will no doubt be between Tucker and Dowdell.

Tucker averaged 20.1 ppg, 14.6 rpg and 5.3 apg in the regular season, while Dowdell put up 21.7 ppg, 10.6 rpg and 2.9 apg.

The Eagles will be hoping for a fast paced game to suit their small, athletic side, while West will look to slow the game down to utilise its size advantage.

Based on the head-to-head record between these teams, I expect this be a very close to game.

I think the decisive factor will be the all-round offensive ability of Tucker. 

Tucker can beat any opponent one-on-one from anywhere on the floor, and cause the defence to break down as a result, whereas the Bearcats do not have anyone with that sort of offensive ability.

This may be enough to get the Eagles home.