Central Spotlight | Forestville send a Good Friday message

Featured image: @csphotographicaus

The West Adelaide Bearcats ended their season on the way to the 2025 NBL1 Central championship but the Forestville Eagles sent quite the Good Friday message against them with the dominant 85-53 victory.

With the star-studded line-up they possessed, there were times in 2025 that Forestville looked unstoppable and they were the regular season champions only to lose in a preliminary final to the Bearcats.

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West Adelaide went on to claim the championship but most of that Forestville group is back in 2026 although DJ Vasiljevic isn’t as he focuses on trying to win a third NBL championship on Sunday with the Adelaide 36ers against the Sydney Kings.

The rest of the main group are back and were joined by Jordan Forbes. After first up wins against the Eastern Mavericks and South Adelaide Panthers, they put in their most complete and dominant performance in the preliminary final rematch on Good Friday.

The Bearcats had no answers with the Eagles already leading by 13 at quarter-time and then 26 going into the half before completing the 32-point win to improve to 3-0 this season.

It wasn’t even that dazzling of an offensive showing from Forestville with the 17 turnovers and only shooting 46 per cent from the field and going 8/31 from deep, but they were well in control of the contest from the outset.

Greg Mays was outstanding in the win for the Eagles with 24 points and five rebounds with 10/17 shooting and being a monstrous +35 in the 26:50 he played.

Alex Starling also provided 13 points, nine rebounds, two steals and two blocks with Jordan Forbes contributing 11 points, eight boards and seven assists, Daniel Johnson 10 points and seven rebounds, and Fiston Ipassou 10 points and four boards.

It was a Good Friday to forget for West Adelaide with the 30 per cent shooting from the field and going 7/31 from three-point range while they also only managed to 8/15 from the foul line.

The Bearcats also ended up with 19 turnovers with Isaac Atuer finishing with 12 points and two assists, Braelen Bridges 11 points and nine rebounds, and Tobias Dowdell seven points, three boards and two steals.

Forestville had made an ominous start to the new season trying to make up for how last year finished and they came out with a point to prove against the defending champs with a dominant 24-11 first quarter.

Already by the end of the first quarter the Eagles were well in control shooting 57 per cent from the field with 5/8 from deep to just the 25 per cent and 2/9 from the Bearcats.

It was even more dominance from Forestville in the second quarter with another 25 points to 12 including going on a 10-0 scoring run and by half-time they were in total control leading 49-23.

The Eagles had the only seven fast break points of the half and were shooting 50 per cent to the 26 from West Adelaide along with having five players with at least seven points with Greg Mays the only one in double-digits at 11.

Things didn’t get any better for the Bearcats in the third quarter and they only managed another 11 points on 3/13 shooting and the Eagles produced another 17 to stretch that advantage to 32 by three quarter-time.

It was 19 points in the fourth quarter as the two teams went through the motions but it didn’t stop Forestville making quite the Good Friday statement with the 32-point domination.

The Bearcats will try to bounce back next Saturday on the road to the South Adelaide Panthers while Forestville remain away to the Sturt Sabres.

NBL1 CENTRAL 2026 SEASON | ROUND 3

WEST ADELAIDE BEARCATS 53 (Atuer 12, Bridges 11, Stock 7, Dowdell 7)

FORESTVILLE EAGLES 85 (Mays 24, Starling 13, Forbes 11)