Central Wrap | Men's First Nations Round

Featured image: Sport in focus, Richard Keane

The Central Districts Lions locked in the last NBL1 Central finals position with a First Nations Round win while Thomas Kurowski had 31 points for Norwood Flames, Jeremy Smith 31 and Lloyd McVeigh 26 for South Adelaide Panthers, Jacob Rigoni 36 for Sturt Sabres with seven triples, and Greg Mays 32 for Forestville Eagles.

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SATURDAY

Norwood Flames (100) defeated Eastern Mavericks (88)

Thomas Kurowski had another 31 points to lead the Norwood Flames to a seventh win of the season but the 100-88 victory over the Eastern Mavericks wasn’t enough to keep their finals prospects alive.

Coming into the clash at The ARC both teams were in the same situation of needing to win their last two games and requiring the Central Districts Lions to lose both theirs to be any chance of finishing in the top five.

It was still just an outside chance but all they could do was try to win themselves first with the Mavs getting the better of the start with 24 points to 21 in the first quarter.

Norwood turned things around with 30 to 20 in the second frame to go into half-time leading 51-44 before the Flames stayed on top from there leading by as much as 14 and securing the 12-point victory.

That improves the Flames to 7-10 but with Centrals winning at the same time they won't be able to break into the top five despite another 31 points, four rebound and three assists on 13/21 field goal shooting from Thomas Kurowski.

Cooper Osborne had another 17 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals, Daniel Webber 12 points on 3/5 three-point shooting, Oscar Sabine 11 points and two boards, Joel Coffey nine points, seven rebounds and two blocks, and Aydan Janssan seven points, nine rebounds and three assists.

The Mavericks are now 6-11 with the loss with Christian Peevy finishing with 25 points, nine rebounds and three assists with Curtis Scott adding 17 points, four boards and three assists.

Nick Hittle also had 15 points, seven rebounds and two assists, BJ Symons 10 points, nine boards and three assists, and Mack Schaftenaar 10 points, two rebounds and two assists.

North Adelaide Rockets (83) lost to Sturt Sabres (104)

The Sturt Sabres guaranteed themselves a top two finish with the 104-83 win over the North Adelaide Rockets on the back of another 36 points and seven three-pointers from Jacob Rigoni.

The Sabres had won their past couple again to stay in second where they would remain with one more win to close the regular season ahead of taking on the Rockets at The Lights in the penultimate round.

Even with an early nine-point lead for Sturt, North Adelaide responded with a 12-0 run and in the end it was the Sabres clinging to the 25-24 lead by quarter-time.

Sturt were still just narrowly leading 51-47 by half-time before they took over further with 32 points to 18 in the third frame and 21 to 18 in the fourth for the eventual 21-point victory.

That improves the Sabres to the 14-3 record to stay solid in second position with Jacob Rigoni delivering 36 points, seven rebounds and four assists with 7/13 three-point shooting.

DJ Vasiljevic was also back in the line-up for 19 points with 4/10 long-range shooting with Luke Pfitzner adding 11 points, six rebounds and four assists, Josh Tomasi 11 points, 10 boards, five steals and four assists, and Jarryd Hoppo seven points, 10 rebounds and three assists.

North Adelaide are now 5-12 with one game to go in their season with Oskar Jones finishing with 18 points, three assists and two rebounds with Jack King adding 15 points and four boards, and Miller Drewett 13 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

Jok Bulabek also had 12 points, three rebounds and two blocks, Joel Dyer 12 points, five assists and four boards, and Burke Smith nine points, 16 rebounds and two assists.

South Adelaide Panthers (115) defeated Southern Tigers (91)

Jeremy Smith and Lloyd McVeigh combined for 57 points, 16 assists and 15 rebounds for the South Adelaide Panthers to snap their losing run and beat the Southern Tigers 115-91.

South Adelaide had slipped to losing their past three games following their 11-game winning run ahead of hosting the Tigers at Mitchell Park Sports and Community Centre as they tried to build their winning form back up ahead of the finals.

The Panthers made a strong start with 29 points to 18 in the first quarter before another 32 to 25 in the second to head into half-time leading 61-43.

South Adelaide then finished off with 28 points to 19 in the fourth quarter to secure the 24-point victory to steady to a 12-5 record in third position.

Jeremy Smith had another huge performance for the Panthers with 31 points, 10 assists, six rebounds and three steals on 12/19 field goal shooting.

Lloyd McVeigh also had 26 points, nine rebounds, six assists and two blocks with Yevgen Sakhniuk adding 18 points, 10 boards, five assists and two steals, Rio Bruton 16 points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks, and Daniel Smith 12 points and 12 boards.

The Tigers are now 2-15 with the 10th consecutive defeat with Manny Wugol finishing with 16 points and four rebounds, Devin Fortune 16 points and two boards, Nicko Timonera 16 points, seven assists and three rebounds, Nick Logan 14 points with 3/4 three-point shooting, and Koop McCalop 12 points and 11 rebounds.

West Adelaide Bearcats (89) lost to Central Districts Lions (104)

It was a Grand Final rematch and crucial in deciding fifth position and it was the Central Districts Lions taking charge in the final quarter on the way to the 104-89 win to end the championship defence of the West Adelaide Bearcats.

The two teams did battle in last year's Grand Final where the Bearcats prevailed and the Lions did beat them by 25 points earlier this season, but there was plenty at stake this time around again at Port Adelaide Recreation Centre.

Coming into the game and Centrals were fifth and Bearcats sixth with two games between them so the only hope for West Adelaide was to win their last two games and hope the Lions lost their past two.

So the first step in that was in their own control on Saturday night but Centrals started on fire with 31 points to 21 in first quarter but it was back to just a five-point ball game by three quarter-time.

That's when the Lions took over once more with another 25 points to 15 on the way to winning by 15 and locking in a finals place and ending any hopes of the Bearcats.

Jayden Seymour ended up with 29 points, seven rebounds and three assists for the Lions with 11/14 field goal shooting and 7/11 at the foul line.

Koen Sapwell added 27 points and seven rebounds, Deng Manyang 15 points, six boards, two assists and two steals, Magok Manyang 15 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks, and Kalani Sapwell nine points, seven boards and seven assists.

West Adelaide now can't reach the finals to defend their championship with Braelen Bridges ending up with 26 points, 13 rebounds and four assists on 9/11 shooting from the floor and 8/8 at the foul line.

Nick Marshall also had 26 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, three blocks and two steals with Tom Kubank adding 22 points, three rebounds and two assists, and Akok Machar 10 points, eight boards, three steals, three blocks and two assists.

MONDAY

Woodville Warriors (78) lost to Forestville Eagles (87)

The Forestville Eagles all but guaranteed themselves the regular season championship with a fifth straight win on Monday night beating the also finals bound Woodville Warriors 87-78.

It was Monday night basketball in the NBL1 Central to wrap up the penultimate around with the Warriors hosting the Eagles at St Clair Recreation Centre with both teams gearing up to be part of the finals.

Forestville went on a 13-0 run in the first quarter on the way to leading 27-22 by quarter-time before the Eagles were clinging to the 48-45 lead by half-time.

Woodville hit back to grab the lead early in the third quarter only for Forestville to take back over and end up leading by 14 on the way to the nine-point victory to stay in top spot at 15-2.

Greg Mays produced 32 points, 10 rebounds and two steals with 14/21 field goal shooting for Forestville with Jordan Forbes contributing 16 points, 10 boards, six assists and two steals.

Fiston Ipassou added 14 points and four rebounds, Adam Doyle 12 points and six assists, and Daniel Johnson eight points and two rebounds.

Woodville are now 9-8 following the loss but still guaranteed of being part of the playoffs with Awak Machar finishing with 16 points and six rebounds with Joe Jackson adding 16 points, four boards and two steals with 4/6 three-point shooting.

LJ Booth Jr also had 15 points, eight rebounds and two blocks, Nick Wurm 13 points, eight assists and five boards, and Uzo Dibiamaka six points, seven assists and three rebounds.