West Adelaide Bearcats (13-5, 4th) v Norwood Flames (11-7, 5th)
Saturday August 11, 7.00pm at Port Adelaide

The West Adelaide Bearcats and Norwood Flames will be playing for a spot in the First Semi Final when they go head-to-head at Port Adelaide on Saturday.

The Bearcats are arguably the unluckiest side in the top five, having finished with the equal second-best record alongside Forestville and North Adelaide, but falling to the lowest seed of the three, due to a poor head-to-head record against those clubs. The game that cost the Bearcats most was their Round 15 clash with the Rockets, where they blew a 13 point lead with 2.48 remaining and lost in overtime.

As it is, the Bearcats have to settle for a third Elimination Final in four years. Their other two Elimination Finals have been against the Rockets, winning in both 2009 and 2011.

This week’s opponents, the Norwood Flames, are a side the Bearcats have been successful against twice this season. In Round 8, the Bearcats got home 67-63 at Mars. The Bearcats outrebounded the Flames 45-38 and were 20/30 from the foul-line, while the Flames only attempted 13 free throws, making 11. The Flames were without star import Brian Moultrie (22.4 ppg, 16.3 rpg, 1.9 bpg this season) and sharpshooter Andrew Webber (career averages of 13.4 ppg, 4.5 apg, 4.4 rpg) in that match.

Blake Truslove was huge for the Bearcats with 18 points, 18 rebounds and 4 blocks, while Howard Salters Jr had a team-high 20 points to go with 6 rebounds. For the Flames, Keith Krause scored a game-high 22 points along with 11 rebounds, while Matthew Lycett had 14 rebounds and 8 points.

Moultrie and Webber were back for the Round 17 rematch, but the Bearcats stepped up to another level, winning 86-75. Salters had a career-high 30 points, including 5/10 3FG, while Truslove had 15 points and 14 rebounds. Bearcats Guard Anthony Spadavecchia also scored 15 points. Moultrie was reduced to 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Todd Matthews provided 11 points and 5 steals.

The Bearcats again held a +7 edge in rebounding and a +9 advantage in points scored at the foul-line, but this time shot the ball at an excellent 48% clip, compared to the Flames’ 41%.

Both teams have been in stellar form of late. The Bearcats closed the regular season with three straight double-digit victories, including an 88-64 triumph over the Eastern Mavericks last weekend. The Bearcats lost the first and fourth quarters, but were dominant in the second and third. Truslove and Salters were again at the forefront of the attack, combining for 36 points and 18 rebounds.

Meanwhile, 22 points and 11 rebounds from Moultrie guided the Flames to a 77-75 win over Forestville – their sixth win in their last seven games. Lycett added 14 points.

With a better win-loss ratio, an unblemished record against their opponents, home court advantage and plenty of experience in this particular situation, the Bearcats should start favourites. On the other hand, the Flames have won two premierships, lost two Grand Finals and made two other Preliminary Finals all in the last six years.

All the facts point to a classic encounter between two sides that are arguably better than where they are ranked. Where the Bearcats have been assured of finals for a while, the Flames have had plenty of finals-like wins to save their season. So if the game is tight at the end of regulation, the Flames may just have that extra poise required to crawl over the line and burn for another week.

By James Woite