Central Finals | Forestville set up dream Grand Final

Featured image: Dan Cowley | @imagesby_dan

The Forestville Eagles hit back from their loss to the South Adelaide Panthers to now set up the mouth watering of NBL1 Central Grand Finals after beating the Central Districts Lions 95-84 in the preliminary final after an 18-0 run in the first quarter.

On the back of the disappointment of last year when Forestville also finished on top but lost in a preliminary final to the West Adelaide Bearcats, they found themselves in the exact same situation once again on Saturday night.

The Eagles also ended the regular season in top spot at 16-2 but then lost their second semi-final to the South Adelaide Bearcats ahead of hosting Central Districts at the State Basketball Centre.

Centrals ended the regular season fifth at 10-8 before beating both the Woodville Warriors and the Sturt Sabres on the path to a preliminary final with both them and Forestville playing for the rights to face South Adelaide next Saturday night at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.

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It didn’t take the Eagles long to take control of the match up with 34 points to 16 in the opening quarter on the back of a remarkable 18-0 run to build a 19-point lead.

Central Districts might have outscored Forestville 18 points to 17 in the second quarter but Forestville remained in control leading 51-34 by half-time with Greg Mays already having 22 points.

The Eagles were shooting 19/57 from the field and 10/14 at the foul line to the 15/33 and 3/66 from the Lions while Forestville also pulled down a monstrous 24 offensive rebounds to five and forced Centrals into 12 turnovers.

That meant the Eagles got up an extra 24 shots to lead by 17 points and then with 28 points to 27 in the third quarter, they were still in control 79-61 by three quarter-time with Mays up to 24 points and nine rebounds while Jordan Forbes had 23 points and seven assists.

Central Districts did outscore Forestville 23 to 16 in the last quarter but it didn’t stop the Eagles cruising to the 11-point win to set up the Grand Final with South Adelaide in a rematch from 2024.

Forestville might have only shot 35 per cent from the field and 5/27 from the outside, but massively won the possession game with 28 more shot attempts on the back of collecting a monstrous 34 offensive rebounds and forcing Central Districts into 17 turnovers.

Jordan Forbes delivered 27 points, 10 rebounds and three assists in the win for the Eagles with Greg Mays contributing 24 points and 10 boards, and Adam Doyle 20 points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals with 10/10 free-throw shooting.

Daniel Johnson also had 12 points, five rebounds and three assists, Fiston Ipassou six points and 11 boards, and Alex Starling four points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and six steals.

Centrals gave them a shot at reaching back-to-back Grand Finals with Koen Sapwell finishing with 25 points, four rebounds and three assists with Jaden Seymour adding 20 points, eight boards and three assists, Magok Manyang 12 points and six rebounds, and Deng Manyang 11 points and eight boards.

NBL1 CENTRAL 2026 SEASON | PRELIMINARY FINAL

FORESTVILLE EAGLES 95 (Forbes 27, Mays 24, Doyle 20)

CENTRAL DISTRICTS LIONS 84 (Koen Sapwell 25, Seymour 20, M Manyang 12)