In the best game of the 2007 Central ABL season, North Adelaide defeated Norwood in overtime in front of an increasingly frenzied crowd at the Launch pad, but the one point margin was not enough for the Rockets to wrest the minor premiership from the league-leading Flames.

In one of the more bizarre basketball scenarios in memory, North intentionally gave up an opportunity to win late in regulation by forcing an overtime that would allow them a shot at the necessary 6 point margin.

Norwood started well and prevented any chance of the Hillcrest crowd being a factor early. North drew within one, but Todd Matthews exploded to end the quarter with three 3 pointers. Matthews regularly demonstrates that he is the best point guard in the competition, but perhaps the most telling statistic is that four of his highest game scores this season have come against top 4 teams of North, Forestville and West. Michael Zorich kept things close with a number of tough layups in transition, including two very tough finishes around the towering Flame front court, but at quarter time, the Rockets were down 27-29.

As it turned out, this would be the closest margin until half way through the fourth quarter. Norwood locked down the keyway, and North were unable to get anything from the three point line, as evidenced by their first half 0/13 three point shooting. Norwood won the second quarter 20-13, and went into the half-time break leading 49-40.

The third quarter was exquisite. North predictably made a number of runs, but Norwood answered every one. North drew to within 6 early in the quarter, but the momentum was stopped by a Keith Krause 3. Erik Burdon hit a quick three from a dribble hand off, but Matthews answered with a 3 at the other end.

The North crowd, which were drowned out by the Norwood bench in the first half, shook off the icicles, but could not help their team make any headway. Nick Hambour did a great defensive job on David Cooper as the shot clock was expiring, and Leif Burdon drove and fed Rychart for one of his 14 baskets of the game, but another Krause triple kept the margin at 52-62.

Norwood's bench increased the volume again and after 22 seconds of great defensive pressure, Rychart was blocked taking a 15' jump shot. He miraculously caught and shot in one motion, scoring on the shot clock buzzer. The last 2 minutes of the third quarter were all Norwood however, as Max Papendiek, buoyed from his recent inclusion in the 36ers training squad, scored 5 points and Krause hit his 4^th three of the game to send the Flames into the final quarter up by 12. This was effectively an 18 point margin given the head-to-head scenario.

North was relentless in the fourth and started with a 10-0 run. Erik Burdon, on his way to a 28 point game, hit a three from the sponsor sign in front of the Norwood bench and Rychart hit another 15' J. When Andrew Webber dived on a loose ball, four Rockets piled on top of him and the signs of a Rocket rampage were ominous. Rupert Sapwell called a necessary Norwood time out with 8:22 remaining to slow the run, and Matthews showed that Norwood were more than capable of hustle plays of their own when he stopped a near-certain Hambour layup from a bullet outlet pass by Rychart, by chasing the length of the floor for a deflection. North then drew even, but a long-range Matthews jumper punctuated a 4-0 run which forced Justin Schueller to retaliate with a time out of his own,

North scored 3 baskets in a row from the timeout, starting with an Erik Burdon layup under pressure. Andrew Webber made another great hustle play by stripping Zorich on a 1 on 1 layup and coming up with possession, before Zorich, perhaps inspired by Cirque du Soleil, chased down a long pass on transition and made a no-look layup while diving over the baseline. North had its first lead of the game, with four minutes remaining.

Todd Matthews owned the next 3 minutes. He has made a living from the change-of-pace, look-away, wait-for-the-defence-to-come-out-of-stance move, and pulled it out twice in this quarter. The first resulted in a dish to David Cooper, who drew Rychart's 5^th foul, and in the second move, he drew a foul himself. As an SA junior, Matthews had the quickest hands in defence going round, and his fourth steal of the game was the most pivotal, stripping Zorich at the half way line as North were preparing for a set out of a time out. After being fouled and making one of the two fouls shots, Norwood were down 86-85, and heading towards the final minute.

Nick Hambour was fouled on the next possession, and after playing for over 40 minutes, much of it on David Cooper, he walked to the foul line for his first two foul shots of the game. Under the intense pressure of the moment, he iced both, and North were up 3 again.

21 year-old Andrew Webber has perhaps played in the shadow of the bigger Norwood names this year, but with 15 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds per game, has demonstrated that he has one of the best all-around games in the league. His biggest moment of the season came when, with 44 seconds to go, 1 second on the shot clock, he hit a contested 3 to tie the game.

Rychart was fouled with 10 seconds to go, and went to the foul line. After a North time out, it was evident that the plan was for Rychart to intentionally miss both foul shots, the theory being that 10 seconds without possession was not enough time to get a 6 point win, but 5 minutes of overtime might be.

With thought's going through his head like "What will this do to my foul shooting percentage? Would it be too embarrassing to just airball the first shot? If so, will I appear in a Nick Hambour-produced YouTube blooper video?", and after some nervous half-court laughter, Dusty successfully clunked both foul shots off the front of the ring, defended out regulation, and sent the game to overtime.

(For those of you wondering why Norwood didn't intentionally score an "own goal" from the defensive rebound, you can't. To do so intentionally is a violation, and to do convince the world it was an accident would in this situation be no mean feat).

In overtime, North raced out to a five point lead. Erik Burdon hit two foul shots, and Rychart chose a great time to hit his second three pointer of the year. Webber responded with one of his own from a Matthews assist, but when Dusty made a driving post move, North were up four, and two points away from the magical 6 point margin.

Matthews and Webber showed their versatility in the next minute, with 175cm Matthews pulling down a monster board in front of Rychart and Hambour, and 180cm running in for two offensive boards in the next play. Matthews scored the next three points with a foul shot and a layup in transition to reduce the lead to 1.

Rychart picked up two offensive rebounds after Burdon missed a long three, but picked up his 6^th foul with 1:50 to go on a Matthews drive, and was forced to leave the game. With Hambour leaving the game with an injury, North had just lost their twin towers, and when Matthews iced both foul shots, were only up by 1. A rare 5' jump shot from Erik Burdon increased it to three with 35 seconds left, and gave North some hope, but Keith Krause's 5^th three pointer tied things up with 24 seconds remaining. Faced with the prospect of entering a second overtime without Rychart and Hambour, they elected to go for the win immediately. The crowd drowned out the "bank" call on Burdon's next three pointer, but when Matthews hit two foul shots, the game was over. North won 102 to 101, but Norwood had done enough to earn a week off.

Matthews and Rychart were the outstanding performers of the game, playing 43 and 48 minutes respectively as both coaches reduced their rotations leading towards the finals. Matthews had a season high 35 points, with 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals. Rychart and Andrew were both one assist away from a triple double - Rychart with a monsterous 35 points, 27 rebounds and 9 assists, and Andrew Webber with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 9 assists. Michael Zorich had 17 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists, Erik Burdon had 28 points, and Corey Ottey had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

This result means that North must return to Hillcrest next week for a double-chance qualifying final against Forestville while West play Sturt in a knockout elimination final at Port Adelaide. With both North and West hosting women's finals on the same night, the atmosphere should be electric as Central ABL fans cram into both venues.