Norwood Flames (77) defeated West Adelaide Bearcats (70)

A full throttle final quarter saw the Flames put together a committed team effort to edge out the Bearcats in their win at MARS on the weekend.

Norwood have been systematically climbing the ladder since their slip to seventh position in round 5 and their hunger for this win was palpable. The Flames' defense was oppressive from the beginning and they limited the Bearcats to 15 points in the first period.

The Bearcats fired up in the second quarter, wrestling the lead away twice before the half time break which had the Flames just ahead by 4 points. West dominated the third period pinning the Flames back to just 10 points for the quarter, doubling the home teams score with 20 of their own. 

The final stanza began with the Bearcats up by six but they were missing Blake Truslove, the leagues leader under the boards, and Jack Jennings made the most of it early in the quarter with some game changing defensive rebounding giving the Flames a chance to wedge themselves back into the contest. 

Sharp shooting by Mathew Lycett and Todd Mathews helped the Flames take back the lead. Norwood managed to lock the Bearcats out of the game for 5 critical minutes without scoring and the scores were level with 3 minutes left to play.

The Flames shutdown in the key forced West to try their luck downtown but, despite 7 brave attempts to save the day, they couldn't sink a single 3 pointer in the final minutes while the Flames piled on 7 quick points to snatch the win.

Top Scorers Norwood Flames
Matthew Lycett 20
Todd Matthews 17
Andrew Webber 16

Top Scorers West Adelaide Bearcats
Jason Dawson 27
Kurtis Phillips 9
Anthony Spadavecchia 9