Fildes, Eagles blow away foul-prone Bearcats

Trent Fildes picked the right night to come up big.

Fildes, who was inserted into the starting line-up, had a season-high 26 points on 9/18 shooting and 7 rebounds, as Forestville progressed to the Grand Final with a 95-85 win over West Adelaide at Pasadena on Saturday.

Fildes also helped the Eagles come up with a number of loose balls, and spent most of the night guarding West star David Nurse and keeping him in check.

Forestville’s leading scorers, Rashad Tucker (9 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists) and Brad Sullivan (7 points, 3/11 FG), fouled out of the game and had limited impact, yet the Eagles lesser lights were more than competent on the night.

Brad Haydon had his biggest scoring output since July 9, posting 17 points, including 9/10 from the foul-line.

Big man Neil Mottram returned to the line-up and registered 12 points and 5 boards in just 17 minutes, while John Wernham (11 points, 5 rebounds) was also strong around the hoop.

Adam Doyle was solid with 9 points and 6 assists.

The Bearcats sorely missed Jeff Dowdell (21.7 ppg, 10.6 rpg and 2.9 apg), who was inactive due to NBL commitments.

With Dowdell out, West really needed Nurse to have a big one, but he was ineffective offensively, save for a couple of nice moves in the fourth, for most of the night.

Nurse finished with 12 points on 4/12 shooting and 8 rebounds.

Nurse was one of five ’Cats to foul out, with Adam Pearce, Paul Rankin, Tristan Braithwaite and Ben Evans also earning an early exit, while Blake Truslove was just one foul away from disqualification.

Anthony Spadavecchia was West’s best with 20 points on 9/16 shooting and 3 steals, while Braithwaite (15 points) and Truslove (13 points, 12 rebounds) had decent outings.

Both teams shot 43 per cent from the field, but Forestville was plus-10 from the foul-line, the game’s final margin.

The Eagles finished the game with only one less rebound than their opponents, after being belted in that area in their regular season meetings.

Forestville did the bulk of its damage in a 24-15 second quarter.

The Bearcats were not as fluent in the opening quarter as the Eagles and found open shots a bit harder to come by, but executed well and trailed by just three.

Tucker left the court late in the first after a hard foul from Truslove caused him to fall onto his head.

However, he returned to the floor in the second and put in six early points.

Forestville continued to move the ball well, causing the likes of Fildes and Haydon to get open.

The Eagles led by as much as 15, before Evans nailed a trey on the stroke of half-time for a 32-44 scoreline.

The fouls piled up on both teams in the third.

Tucker picked up his fourth within 1.06 of the restart, but his replacement Mottram came in and helped Forestville extend its lead.

Mottram scored four quick points as the margin ballooned to 18 with 6.13 remaining in the quarter.

West’s trap slowed the Eagles down, as it trimmed the margin by five by the end of the period, off the back of some good play from Spadavecchia and Braithwaite.

Wernham scored seven quick points to begin the fourth as Forestville built an 80-58 advantage.

The Eagles were dominating at both ends, despite Tucker and Sullivan being off the floor.

However, it was not long before the Bearcats lifted for one last run.

With Nurse finally becoming involved and Spadavecchia in good touch, West slowly cut the margin.

The Bearcats got back to within 15, before letting themselves down.

A bad pass from Truslove and an unsportsmanlike foul by Braithwaite on Doyle had the potential to turn the momentum back to Forestville.

However, some good defence from Braithwaite and Evans, a three-point-play from Nurse and a fastbreak layup from Spadavecchia got West within a gettable 10 points with 2.19 left.

A couple more stops gave the Bearcats further golden opportunities, but a missed shot from Pearce and a charging foul against Spadavecchia snuffed out all hope of a miraculous comeback.

Forestville verdict: The Eagles were back to their best after a poor outing against Norwood last week. Defeating West is no mean feat, but doing so without sufficient damage from Tucker and Sullivan made the win even more impressive. Mottram’s return gives Forestville an extra body to throw at the Flames, which will be invaluable. The Eagles are now through to their first Grand Final since 2008.

West Adelaide verdict: This was a disappointing end to an otherwise very good season from the Bearcats. They did well to hang around early, but could not stay with their opponents for the entirety of the match. The absence of Dowdell was clearly evident, but they were not the first club this season to be affected by NBL commitments. Spadavecchia aside, West really needed bigger contributions from its other players, but did not get them.

By James Woite




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