Central Spotlight | Doyle can't miss and Eagles win big

Featured image: Dan Cowley | @imagesby_dan

Adam Doyle hit all seven three-point attempts and the Forestville Eagles started on fire and maintained their hold on top spot in the NBL1 Central with 106-80 road win over the Central Districts Lions.

Forestville arrived at STARplex a game clear in top spot while Centrals were just clinging to fifth position but it didn’t take the Eagles long to take control of the contest with 36 points to 13 in the first quarter.

From there they retained control the rest of the evening with Doyle landing all five of his three-point attempts in the first half while the lead for Forestville got out to as much as 35 in the finish before they won the game by 26.

The win improves the Eagles to 13-2 to remain clear in first place while the Lions are now 7-8 as they remain locked in a fight to stay in the top five by the end of the weekend.

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It was another commanding performance from Forestville to maintain their hold on first place as they finished up going 51 per cent from the field to 35 from Centrals and even though as a team they only went 13/31 from downtown to 15/34, that included a perfect 7/7 from Adam Doyle.

The Eagles also forced the Lions into 17 turnovers and not only were efficient, but won the possession game with the six extra shot attempts and three more free throws for the 26-point win to retain top spot.

Doyle couldn’t miss from beyond the arc in the win for Forestville on his way to 25 points, two rebounds and two assists in just 20:35 of court time.

Greg Mays also put up 16 points, seven rebounds and two assists, Daniel Johnson 15 points, seven assists and three boards, Fiston Ipassou 15 points, three rebounds and three steals, Stefan Gould 14 points and nine boards, Alex Starling six points, 12 rebounds, five assists and two steals, and Jordan Forbes five points, seven assists, three boards and two steals.

Centrals are now further locked in a battle to play finals after making the Grand Final last year with Kalani Sapwell finishing with 22 points and two assists with 6/10 three-point shooting.

Koen Sapwell also had 19 points and five rebounds, Magok Manyang eight points, five boards and two assists, Paul Ajak seven points and three rebounds, and Aimable Rutayisire seven points and four boards.

Forestville were a game clear in top spot coming into the double header round and then made a blistering start away from home with 36 points to 13 in the first quarter including going on a 12-0 scoring run.

That lead got out to 29 points in the second term as well for the Eagles and even though Centrals did end up outscoring them 25 to 22 in the quarter, Forestville were well in control leading 58-38 by half-time.

That saw the Eagles shooting at 55 per cent to the 26 from the Lions including getting up six more shot attempts while Adam Doyle was on fire from downtown for 19 points with a perfect 5/5 three-point shooting even with the rest of his team managing just 1/8.

Kalani and Koen Sapwell combined for 22 of the 38 points in the first half for Central Districts.

The Sapwell brothers then added another 19 points of the 24 that the Lions managed in the third frame but Forestville extended their advantage with 27 more points themselves including two more three balls to Doyle who was up to 7/7 by three quarter-time.

The Eagles went on with the job from there leading by as much as 35 points and going on to win by 26 to retain their hold on top spot.

Both teams now back up to play again on Sunday with Forestville playing host to the Norwood Flames while Centrals will attempt to bounce back away to the South Adelaide Panthers.

NBL1 CENTRAL 2026 SEASON | ROUND 13

CENTRAL DISTRICTS LIONS 80 (Forster 31, Weir 13, Burton 13)

FORESTVILLE EAGLES 106 (Beggs 17, Rettstatt 14, Zugna 9)