It looked like a case of same-old, same-old for South early, who had no trouble impacting the scoreboard themselves but allowed their opposition to jump out to a 19-8 lead midway through the first.  A series of concentration lapses left gaping holes in the Panther defence, punished early by some sharpshooting from Tigers backcourt Anthony Matthews and Todd Davies.

South showed some resilience after an early timeout however by tightening their defensive screws. Kyle Howe-Tipene arrested the slide with a triple of his own, before two back-to-back Jordy Robertson jumpers cut the margin to 4 at the first change.

It didn’t take long for a quick Robertson basket and steal at the beginning of the second to have the raucous Panther army in full voice. Another Robertson block on the defensive end finished off with a Kieran Hirlam triple suddenly had the Panthers up a pair mid-way through the second.

However Southern were able to steady the ship and restore a handy 5-point buffer at the half, Sam McDaniel (21 points, 11 rebounds) controlling the boards for the Tigers.

South Adelaide again came out swinging at the start of the second. Cameron Myles unloaded all 7 of his points in the space of a minute with two long jumpers and a wide-arcing drive to give the home team some real belief and quickly erase Southern’s lead.

It was clear the crowd were sensing another upset after the women’s game earlier that evening, but in the end it was a lack of offensive output that did South in. The Panthers went scoreless for the final 7 minutes of the quarter and added just 4 points over the next 12 minutes of play.

Meanwhile the Tigers were able to grind their way back out to an 11 point lead at the final change, McDaniel continuing to exploit his strength and size advantage down low by repeatedly finding easy baskets in receiver’s positions and getting to the line for the Tigers.

South never challenged in the fourth, allowing the Tigers to cruise to a 15 point victory. With both teams shooting under 35% from the field it was ultimately the Tigers’ dominance of the glass that proved the telling statistic, Southern outrebounding the home team 55-36 over the course of the match.

The win keeps the Tigers finals hopes alive, remaining just one win outside the top five along with Sturt.  Meanwhile the Panthers will have a shot at redemption next Saturday when they take on the bottom of the ladder Mavericks at Mount Barker.

Stats Webcast

By Lachlan Sellar