Central Wrap | Men's Round 2

Featured image: Melissa Belanic | @justbphotoau

The big guns of the Forestville Eagles along with Awak Machar, Jacob Rigoni, Jarryd Hoppo, Tom Kurowski and Dylan Marshall starred in Round 2 NBL1 Central wins for the Woodville Warriors, Sturt Sabres, Norwood Flames and Eastern Mavericks.

>> CENTRAL SPOTLIGHT | MACHAR INSPIRES WARRIORS TO STUNNING WIN

>> CENTRAL WRAP | MEN'S ROUND 1

Forestville Eagles (97) defeated South Adelaide Panthers (79)

The big guns of the Forestville Eagles starred with Greg Mays, Adam Doyle, Daniel Johnson and Alex Starling dominant in the 97-79 home win over the South Adelaide Panthers.

After their disappointing finish to a dominant 2025 season, the Eagles started the new campaign beating the Eastern Mavericks last Saturday while the Panthers were attempting to bounce back from a tight loss to the Sturt Sabres.

Forestville dominated all evening at the State Basketball Centre including pulling down 22 offensive rebounds on the way to 15 extra shot attempts to improve to 2-0.

Greg Mays delivered 29 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals on 13/22 shooting for the Eagles with Adam Doyle adding 22 points and six assists, Daniel Johnson 22 points, eight rebounds, six rebounds and three steals, and Alex Starling 14 points, 14 boards and six assists.

South Adelaide are now 0-2 with Rio Bruton finishing with 23 points on 5/8 three-point shooting with Lloyd McVeigh contributing 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists, Koby Moir 15 points and seven assists, Jeremy Smith 11 points and six assists, and Yevgen Sakhniuk nine points and 11 rebounds.

West Adelaide Bearcats (85) lost to Woodville Warriors (87)

The Woodville Warriors came back from a 14-point deficit with Awak Machar inspiring their huge fourth quarter fightback as they spoiled banner raising night of the West Adelaide Bearcats with the 87-85 win.

The Bearcats started their NBL1 Central championship defence with a hard fought road win over the North Adelaide Rockets last Saturday as they returned home to raise their championship banner this week at Port Adelaide Recreation Centre.

The Warriors arrived after a commanding first up 38-point road win last Saturday as well against the Norwood Flames and it was a tight battle for the first half before West Adelaide took charge in the third term to open up a 14-point advantage.

Woodville then got on a roll in the final quarter and went on an inspired 9-0 run to go from being three points down to six points up with six minutes to go. Ultimately it was Machar who sealed the win with two free throws with 1.4 seconds on the clock.

Awak Machar was a man possessed for Woodville and sealed the win with those free throws. He finished with 37 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals on 12/20 shooting from the field, 4/6 from three-point land and 9/12 at the foul line.

He had plenty of support too with Joe Jackson providing 15 points and five rebounds with Bennett Sherry contributing 15 points, nine boards, five blocks and four assists, and Nick Wurm 12 points and 12 assists.

It's a first loss as defending champions for the Bearcats in their home opener with Braelen Bridges still strong with 25 points, 10 rebounds and three assists on 10/13 field goal shooting.

Nik DeSantis was playing his first home game on return after two years with the Geraldton Buccaneers of the NBL1 West to deliver 17 points, five rebounds and five steals.

Central Districts Lions (91) lost to Sturt Sabres (111)

Jacob Rigoni had 23 points and Jarryd Hoppo landed five three-pointers as the Sturt Sabres won big 111-91 on the road to the Central Districts Lions.

The Lions were coming off a 44-point hammering of the Southern Tigers to open the season ahead of hosting the Sabres at STARplex with Sturt having won first up against the South Adelaide Panthers.

Sturt put up 31 points in the first quarter to set the tone for the evening and even though it was only a four-point game at half-time, the Sabres took back control with 61 points to 48 in the second half for the 20-point triumph.

Jacob Rigoni delivered 23 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals in the win while Jarryd Hoppo went 5/10 from deep for 19 points with seven rebounds and seven assists.

Luke Pfitzner added 20 points with Josh Tomasi contributing 17 points, nine rebounds and four assists, and Seb Griffin threatening a triple-double with eight points, nine rebounds and 10 assists.

Magok Manyang finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks for Central Districts with Ayual Garang adding 16 points and 11 boards, Deng Manyang 17 points and five rebounds, Riley Harrap 13 points and four assists, and Kalani Sapwell 10 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Southern Tigers (77) lost to Norwood Flames (99)

The Norwood Flames dominated the first and fourth quarters on the way to the 99-77 road win against the Southern Tigers.

The Tigers were back home at Morphett Vale Basketball Stadium attempting to bounce back from a first up loss to the Central Districts Lions and hosting a Flames team fresh off their own big loss to the Woodville Warriors.

Norwood started on fire with 28 points in the first quarter but it was just a five-point lead by three quarter-time before they pulled away with 31-16 in the final frame for the eventual 22-point victory.

Tom Kurowski fired for 32 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and five steals on 12/18 shooting for Norwood with Daniel Webber adding 23 points and six boards, and Campbell Scott 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Devin Fortune delivered 23 points, five rebounds and five steals on 3/5 three-point shooting for the Tigers with Che Brogan delivering 17 points, five boards, four assists and four steals, Koop McCalop 15 points and eight rebounds, and Nick Logan 11 points, seven rebounds and four steals despite 1/9 three-point shooting.

North Adelaide Rockets (102) lost to Eastern Mavericks (108)

The high-scoring thriller of the round took place at The Lights with the Eastern Mavericks ending up prevailing 108-102 against the North Adelaide Rockets.

The Rockets started their season losing to the West Adelaide Bearcats in an encouraging effort with the Mavericks also competing at home to the Forestville Eagles last Saturday.

The Mavs were then leading all night including by as much as 15 points in the fourth quarter but the Rockets threw everything at a big comeback including an 8-0 run only to fall six points short in the finish.

Dylan Marshall produced 28 points and four assists in the win for the Mavericks with BJ Symons adding 24 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals, and Christian Perry 16 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Curtis Scott also had 14 points, four rebounds and two steals, Jackson Bowden 12 points, seven assists, four boards and two steals, and Harry Morris eight points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Jack King delivered 27 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists with 5/7 three-point shooting for North Adelaide.

Machar Machar also had 23 points, seven rebounds, three steals, two assists and two blocks, Joel Dyer 18 points and three steals, Oskar Jones 16 points, five rebounds and five assists, and Miller Drewett 13 points.