By David Tonks

(Top Minor Round v Winner Qualifying Final)
(Includes Round 7 & 16 results when the Teams last played)

West Adelaide v Sturt, Sat, August 7th, 7.00pm at Port Adelaide
R 7: Sturt 84 (Holmes, Daly 19, D Ng 18) def West 76 (Davidson 25, Molitor 18, Phillips 11)
R 16: West 77 (Spadavecchia 26, Phillips, Evans 11) def Sturt 71 (Holmes 20, Maynard 11)

West sat out the first week of the finals after finishing minor premiers with 15 wins and 3 losses, those losses occurred in Rounds 2, 7 and 18. Sturt finished the minor round in second place with 13 wins and 5 losses, their season interrupted when a number of their players had overseas commitments later in the season. In the first week of finals Sturt accounted for Norwood in the Qualifying Final.

When the sides met in May, Sturt clearly won the first and last quarters when they scored 24-15 and 28-17 respectively to claim the win. Jacob Holmes in only his second game of the season was the leading scorer for the Sabres. Brad Davidson for the Bearcats finished as the game high scorer with 25 points, including four 3 pointers.

In the re-match in July Sturt looked to be heading for victory when they led at the beginning of the last quarter 63-55. To that point of the game the sides had been evenly matched in the other quarters before the Sabres established the break. The game changed when Anthony Spadavecchia was re-introduced into the game with 8:02 to play. He hit 15 points during the remainder of the quarter with West powering over the top of Sturt to grab the win. The win was all the more important for West as it guaranteed them the minor premiership after the Round 16 clash.

For West a major inclusion in this week's game would be point guard Brad Davidson who has had an outstanding season averaging 17.4 points per game in the 13 matches he played in the minor round. Davidson has not played since Round 14, as he has been out with a calf injury. His addition to the team would be a major bonus as West look to participate in their first Grand Final since 2001 when they were beaten by Sturt 101-88.

The match-up of Chris Molitor and Blake Truslove against Sabres centre Jacob Holmes will be critical to the outcome. Last match against the Flames Holmes grabbed 15 defensive rebounds dominating the keyway and restricting second chance shots. Holmes is the leading rebounder of the competition with 13.3 rpg during the minor round. Truslove is the leading rebounder for the Bearcats, his average is 8.8rpg.

There should be great contests on display between all the players in all the positions. Both coaches Paul Bell, West and Scott Butler, Sturt have the flexibility and depth of players to alter the match-ups if players such as Darren Ng for Sturt or Brad Davidson for West begin to dominate.

The winner's prize is a berth in the Grand Final. Will it be West or will it be Sturt? Opinion is divided.