Central Spotlight | Smith stars as Panthers keep winning

Featured image: Melissa Belanic | @justbphotoau

Jeremy Smith delivered another standout performance to lead the South Adelaide Panthers to the 11th straight NBL1 Central win but he also had plenty of help in the 91-79 home victory against the Woodville Warriors.

South Adelaide were back home at Mitchell Park Sports and Community Centre putting their 10-game winning streak on the line as they played host to a Woodville trying to maintain some sort of touch with the top three teams in the competition.

The Panthers shook off an early six-point deficit on their home floor to be leading by 13 at half-time and then remaining in control through most of the second half on the way to the eventual 12-point victory.

The win is an 11th in-a-row for South Adelaide as they improve to an 11-2 record with Woodville now slipping to 7-6 as a result of the defeat.

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The Panthers ended up shooting 54 per cent from the field for the game to the 37 from the Warriors with Woodville relying on the three ball and ending up going 10/35 from beyond the arc to 8/16 from South Adelaide.

Jeremy Smith delivered another 26 points, seven rebounds and five assists in the win for South Adelaide with shooting 9/19 from the floor and 8/10 at the foul line.

Lloyd McVeigh also produced 18 points, five rebounds and two assists, Yevgen Sakhniuk 15 points, 18 boards and eight assists, Rio Bruton 15 points on 4/4 three-point shooting and Daniel Smith 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

Uzo Dibiamaka ended up top scoring for Woodville with 22 points and four assists with 8/16 field goal shooting while Nick Wurm finished with 20 points, four assists, three boards and two steals.

Bennett Sherry also had 11 points while Riley Meldrum added seven points and two rebounds, and LJ Booth Jr seven points, 15 boards, three blocks, two assists and two steals.

South Adelaide came into the contest the hottest team in the league with the 10 straight wins but they did find themselves six points down early against Woodville.

The Panthers responded with an 8-0 run and that had the home team in front 23-18 by the end of the opening period while going 50 per cent from behind the three-point arc.

It was another 29 points to 21 then in the second quarter from South Adelaide and by half-time that saw them in control leading 52-39 thanks to shooting a scorching 66 per cent from the field and 6/10 from downtown.

That included Jeremy Smith already having 21 points and Lloyd McVeigh 13 to overcome the nine turnovers while Woodville were shooting at just 38 per cent with 5/21 from three-point range despite 12 points from Uzo Dibiamaka and 11 from Nick Wurm.

The Warriors did stay in touch in the third quarter by going on an 8-0 run and got the deficit back to eight at three quarter-time, but South Adelaide responded once more with another 19 points to 15 in the last period on the way to the 12-point victory to make it 11 straight this season.

South Adelaide will now attempt to make it 12 straight wins when they are away to the Norwood Flames next Saturday with Woodville attempting to bounce back on the road to the Sturt Sabres.

NBL1 CENTRAL 2026 SEASON | ROUND 11

SOUTH ADELAIDE PANTHERS 91 (Smith 26, McVeigh 18, Sakhniuk 15, Bruton 15)

WOODVILLE WARRIORS 79 (Dibiamaka 22, Wurm 20, Sherry 11)