Forestville unveiled its 2012 Premiership banner before continuing the success of the previous season with a convincing 17 point victory over Sturt at home.

The Eagles’ impressive first half proved to be too difficult for the Sabres to overcome, as they capitalised on Sturt’s mistakes early in the game to set up the victory.

Forestville’s Trent Fildes had a bittersweet game. His nine points helped him to reach a total of 600 Central ABL points, however his night was cut short with an ankle injury forcing him to spend the rest of the game on the bench after only eight minutes of play.

The start of the second quarter saw three quick baskets to the Eagles as they started to pull away. Sturt responded by substituting three players into the game and were able to shift the momentum slightly before the Eagles took charge again, finishing the quarter strongly.

After half time, Forestville appeared to be lacking some of its first half intensity, allowing Sturt’s Sam Daly and Matt Dougherty to work into the game. Forestville’s quieter third quarter may have been influenced by the absence of their captain, Brad Haydon. He was forced to spend majority of the third quarter on the bench to avoid fouling out after two quick fouls early in the third took his total to four.

Sturt were more dominant in the last quarter, outscoring the Eagles 20 to 7. They valiantly fought right to the very end with strong efforts from John Marriott, Hamish Burns and Matt Dougherty. Marriott ended with 10 points, six of which came during this period, and Burns had a total of eight points. Despite Sturt’s strong last quarter, Forestville’s start was just too difficult to overcome.

Jake Rios was the highest point scorer of the game, finishing with 22 points including five three pointers. Fildes was not the only Eagles player to reach a special milestone. Adam Doyle also made it to 600 points with a 17 point game and Haydon reached a total of 700 points with 15 points.

Charles Newland was a crowd favourite for the home side. After spending most of the 2012 season on the Eagles’ bench, Newland made the most of his 31 minutes of game time, finishing with 11 points and seven rebounds and receiving loud support from the Forestville fans.

Dougherty finished the game with a team high 16 points and 11 rebounds while Daly was next higher scorer with 13 points. Also with 11 rebounds was Adam Gavranich and these three players each had two assists.

Forestville Eagles 88 (Jake Rios 22, Adam Doyle 17, Brad Haydon 15)
Sturt Sabres 71 (Matthew Dougherty 16, Sam Daly 13, John Marriott 10)

Stats Webcast

By Samantha Thomas