Central Wrap | Men's Round 11

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Jacob Rigoni, Deng Manyang, Nick Marshall, Greg Mays and Jeremy Smith all delivered standout performances in NBL1 Central wins for the Sturt Sabres, Central Districts Lions, West Adelaide Bearcats, Forestville Eagles and South Adelaide Panthers.

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Norwood Flames (67) lost to Sturt Sabres (74)

They had to do it the hard way but the Sturt Sabres ended up overcoming the Norwood Flames 74-67 to string consecutive wins together again with Jacob Rigoni delivering 33 points and 13 rebounds.

Norwood were sitting in fifth position coming into the contest at The ARC with Sturt coming off a win against the Central Districts on the back of having lost their first two games of the season.

It ended up being a tight battle the entire way with no more than nine points ever separating the two teams with Sturt leading by three points at quarter-time and then four at the half.

The Flames then managed to hit the front early in the fourth quarter but the Sabres responded once more and then opened up an eight-point edge once more and ended up winning by seven to steady to an 11-2 record.

Jacob Rigoni continued his standout season for Sturt delivering another 33 points, 13 rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots with 10/19 field goal shooting along with going 4/9 from three-point range and 9/11 at the foul line.

Josh Tomasi also had 19 points, 11 rebounds and two assists, Luke Pfitzner eight points and two boards, and Sam Daly seven points, four rebounds and two assists.

The Flames are now 5-8 following the loss at home with Thomas Kurowski finishing with 29 points, seven rebounds and four steals with 9/9 free-throw shooting.

Cooper Osborne also had 11 points, six assists, four rebounds and four steals, Mason Whittaker eight points, and Oscar Sabine seven points and four boards.

Forestville Eagles (113) defeated Southern Tigers (81)

The Forestville Eagles shook off their overtime loss two weeks ago to retain top spot with a thumping 113-81 win over the Southern Tigers with big showings all from Greg Mays, Daniel Johnson and Alex Starling.

Forestville lost a cracking overtime contest two weeks ago against the South Adelaide Panthers and were back home this week at the State Basketball Centre to host a Tigers team sitting in bottom place having lost the last five.

The two teams combined for 60 points in the first quarter with the Eagles leading 31-29 by quarter-time but Forestville then took full control in the second frame with 27 points to 11 to be leading 58-40 by half-time.

It was then 34 points to 15 in the third period for Forestville with that lead eventually getting out to 42 by the final buzzer as they maintained top spot with the 11-2 record.

Greg Mays delivered 21 points, six rebounds, four blocks and three assists in the win for the Eagles with Daniel Johnson adding 18 points, eight assists and four boards, and Alex Starling 18 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Fiston Ipassou also had 16 points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists, Jordan Forbes 12 points, six assists, three boards and three steals, Stefan Gould 10 points and six rebounds, and James Mackenzie eight points, four boards and three assists.

The Tigers also stay in bottom place at 2-11 with Koop McCalop finishing with 24 points, seven rebounds steals and two blocks with Devin Fortune contributing 14 points, eight boards and two assists, and Jarrod Molnar nine points on 3/7 three-point shooting.

North Adelaide Rockets (87) lost to Central Districts Lions (90)

The Central Districts Lions were involved in yet another thriller and this time were on the winning side holding out the North Adelaide Rockets 90-87 on the back of 24 points and 10 rebounds on 10/11 shooting from Deng Manyang.

Both teams were coming off losses two weeks ago before the King's Birthday long weekend break ahead of the match up at The Lights and it ended up being another close battle with no more than nine points getting between the sides.

The scores were all level at 23-23 by the end of the first quarter with Central Districts adding 24 points to 20 in the second frame to go into half-time leading 47-43.

North Adelaide then went on a 9-0 run in the third quarter to open up a six-point lead, but Centrals responded with their own 10-0 and then held on in the finish to win by three points even with Koen Sapwell missing two free throws late that could have put the game out of reach of the Rockets.

The Lions improve to a 6-7 record with the win with Deng Manyang delivering 24 points, 10 rebounds and 10/11 shooting from the floor.

Kalani Sapwell also put up 14 points, eight assists and five rebounds, Koen Sapwell 14 points, 10 boards, six assists and three steals, Jayden Seymour 14 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks, Magok Manyang 12 points and six boards, and Riley Harrap 10 points on 4/7 shooting.

North Adelaide are now 3-10 with the second straight defeat with Oskar Jones top scoring with 20 points and three steals with 3/6 shooting from long-range.

Kaden Archie also had 18 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals, Machar Machar 12 points, five boards and two assists, Joel Dyer 12 points and two rebounds, and Burke Smith 10 points, 14 boards and three assists.

South Adelaide Panthers (91) defeated Woodville Warriors (79)

Jeremy Smith delivered another standout performance to lead the South Adelaide Panthers to the 11th straight 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.

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.

West Adelaide Bearcats (103) defeated Eastern Mavericks (81)

Nick Marshall, Braelen Bridges and Nik DeSantis combined for 70 points and 34 rebounds as the West Adelaide Bears keep themselves in the playoff hunt with the 103-81 win over the Eastern Mavericks.

The Bearcats had lost another two straight as defending champions going into last week's break ahead of hosting the Mavericks at Port Adelaide Recreation Centre who arrived having won their past two matches.

West Adelaide were leading 18-15 by the end of the first quarter before another 26 to 23 in the second term on the way to being on top 44-38 at the half-time interval.

The Bearcats then blew the game open in the third term with 31 points to 18 before opening up a 22-point margin by the final buzzer.

West Adelaide stay in the finals mix now with a 4-9 record with Nick Marshall putting up 24 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, two steals and two blocked shots with 8/15 shooting from the floor, 4/9 from downtown and 4/4 at the charity stripe.

Braelen Bridges also had 24 points, 17 rebounds and six assists on 11/13 field goal shooting with Nik DeSantis contributing 22 points, seven boards and two assists, and Akok Machar 18 points, three steals, two rebounds and two assists.

The Mavericks are now 5-8 following the defeat with BJ Symons delivering 25 points, five rebounds and three assists with Curtis Scott contributing 16 points, four assists, three boards and three steals, and Christian Peevy 15 points, eight rebounds and three assists.