Central Spotlight | Tigers push unbeaten Sabres to the limit

Featured image: @snapshotphotography3 / Snap Shot Photography

The Sturt Sabres had to fight back from a 12-point fourth quarter deficit and then survive a last gasp shot from the Southern Tigers to keep their undefeated NBL1 Central run going with the thrilling 86-84 win.

The Sabres were back home at Springbank Secondary College looking for a sixth straight win to open the season against a Tigers team looking to respond to a last up 28-point defeat at the expense of the South Adelaide Panthers.

Then despite Sturt building a double-figure lead themselves in the first half, the Tigers produced a dominant third quarter and then had their own 12-point lead, and were still up four with just over two minutes to go.

Sturt responded with closing the game on an 8-2 run but still a late turnover gave the Tigers one last chance only for Che Brogan's prayer on the buzzer falling short for the Sabres to hold on to win by two and go to 6-0 while the Tigers are 1-5 despite the strong showing.

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Despite the eventual loss, the Tigers did a lot right that would lead to a win on another night including getting up 10 extra shots on the back of 15 offensive rebounds to 10, and having just the 10 turnovers and getting to the foul line 25 times.

Ultimately missing 11 free throws while Sturt went 21/27 was significant with the Tigers ending up shooting 12/48 from three-point territory to the 5/27 from the Sabres.

The Sabres stayed undefeated with Josh Tomasi finishing with 19 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and two blocked shots.

Luke Pfitzner also had 15 points, six assists and five rebounds, Jacob Rigoni 14 points, 11 boards and three assists, Joel Spear 12 points, nine assists and six rebounds, and Jarryd Hoppo 10 points, four boards and two assists.

The Tigers are now 1-5 with Koop McCalop having finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds with Devin Fortune adding 14 points and 10 boards, Lem Ajith 16 points and three rebounds, and Jarrod Molnar 14 points.

Nick Logan also ended up with nine points and four rebounds, and Che Brogan five points, 13 assists and eight boards.

The Tigers were on a mission to hand the Sabres a first loss of the season and started well away from home with an early five-point lead, but Sturt soon worked on top and by quarter-time held a 29-19 advantage.

That was on the back of shooting 58 per cent from the field to just 39 from the Tigers with Luke Pfitzner already having nine points on the board.

The Tigers had come to put in a good showing, though, and had 23 points to 20 in the second term and by half-time it was only a 49-42 advantage in favour of Sturt.

Not much separated the teams with Josh Tomasi having 12 points and nine rebounds for Sturt, and Koop McCalop 12 and eight for Southern while the Sabres shot 46 per cent to 40 from the Tigers, and both teams combined for 27 free throws.

The Tigers then produced a dominant third period with 27 points to 11 on the back of shooting 6/14 from three-point territory and to go on a 14-0 scoring run to grab the lead.

The Sabres shot just 5/20 for the quarter and 1/10 from downtown with the Tigers going into three quarter-time still leading 69-60.

That lead for Southern was out to 12 early in the fourth quarter and they were still up 82-78 with just over two minutes to play when Jarrod Molnar to score.

However, from that point the Sabres hit back starting with the next two scores from Tomasi and Jarryd Hoppo to tie scores up, and Joel Spear gave them the lead. Sturt ended the game on an 8-2 run to secure the two-point victory when Che Brogan's last gasp prayer not falling for the Tigers.

The Tigers will back up at home on Anzac Day against the West Adelaide Bearcats with the Sabres attempting to stay undefeated away to the Eastern Mavericks.

NBL1 CENTRAL 2026 SEASON | ANZAC ROUND

STURT SABRES 86 (Tomasi 19, Pfitzner 15, Rigoni 14)

SOUTHERN TIGERS 84 (McCalop 18, Ajith 16, Fortune 14, Molnar 14)