The Eagles have carried their fantastic preliminary form into the grand final where they have claimed a hat-trick of CABL championships, toppling the Bearcats by 8 points. Forestville finished the season in 3^rd place, having lost both regular season games to the minor premiers West Adelaide. However they maintained one of the most effective and dangerous offensives throughout the season with the firepower of the Jake Rios, Adam Doyle and Adam Gibson in the backcourt. Gibson was named MVP of the match for his pivotal 24 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals. His intensity on court and dominant shooting percentage (10 from 17, including 4/6 beyond the arc) led the team to the dying minutes.

Woollacott medallist Daniel Johnson by far took the honours for West, with 26 points including 14/15 at the free throw line, 3 blocks and 3 assists he put his stamp on the game despite being doubled every time he received the ball in the post.

The Bearcats came out strong in the opening 5 minutes, with 6 points to Johnson, 5 to Adam Pearce and a basket from downtown to the man running the one spot, Jason Cadee. They opened up an 8 point lead as the Eagles missed their opportunities. The story flipped in the latter 5 minutes as Gibson took over, making 7 unanswered points, Rios and Doyle chipped in as West had an off spell and at the end of the first quarter the teams were separated by a single point.

In the second term the Eagles hit their strength, three pointers. Gibson opened the scoring with the first, his accuracy must have been infectious as power forward Kane Oakley stepped up and drilled one moments later. Of Forestville’s 8 field goals for the period, 6 were from three point land. Blake Truslove initially kept West in touch with interspersed points, the only Bearcat to score multiple baskets. With two defenders going to Johnson whenever he touched the ball, West should have been looking for the spare man, however Forestville cut off the lanes and forced Johnson to either take on two defenders or pass back outside the arc. The result was a frustrated Johnson who only managed 3 points in the last 30 seconds as he converted the and-one, and a 6 points lead to the underdogs at the major break.

Gibson again impacted the opening moments of the third, with an assist to Rios followed by his 4^th three pointer for the night, the Eagles had a game high 11 point buffer. Johnson was on the move again though, with 11 points for the term he and teammates Cadee, Truslove and Pearce clawed back that margin and had their noses in front by 2. They hadn’t seen the lead since moments into the second quarter, and it didn’t last long as Rios hit a three and converted the extra free throw for a 4 point play. Brad Gerlach and Trent Fildes chipped in to see that the margin remained at 6 going into the final stanza.

In the lowest scoring quarter of the match that deficit fluctuated between 8 and 3 points, it was again Gibson who found the basket at vital moments to keep his team a step ahead as Cadee finally found some consistent form for West Adelaide. The game grew tight in the final minutes and the excitement was palpable, when Pearce hit a three with just under 45 seconds to play, the Eagles lead was a mere 3 points. Down the other end Forestville was using up every second of the shot clock, a miss would leave one play for the Bearcats to equalize. A thought they didn’t entertain for long as Gerlach responded with a three of his own, fans in the stadium roaring up in approval. He put the final nail in the coffin as he fouled truslove, sending him to the line with 9 seconds to play. Truslove missed both and Fildes added one last bucket before the final siren sounded, bringing the 2013 Central Australian Basketball League season to an end.

Despite West Adelaide dominating the boards with a plus 19 advantage, they only outscored the Eagles by 2 in second chance points. Whereas the Eagles seemed to go after the loose ball with more intensity, gaining 6 fast break points to 0 and also more than doubling the Bearcats on points from turnovers. But as always it came down to their ability to put the ball through the hoop, and Forestville earned their third straight title with a 42 to 34 field goal percentage.

Forestville Eagles 81 (Gibson 24, Fildes 15, Rios 13)

Defeated

West Adelaide Bearcats 73 (Johnson 26, Cadee 16, Peace 11)

Stats webcast available here.