Central Wrap | Men's Round 9

Featured image: creativelab.mediaco

Nick Marshall had a huge triple double first up in a thumping West Adelaide Bearcats NBL1 Central win while Jordan Forbes had 42 for Forestville Eagles and Lloyd McVeigh 31 for South Adelaide Panthers as they handed Sturt Sabres a first loss.

>> CENTRAL SPOTLIGHT | MCVEIGH, SMITH HAND SABRES FIRST DEFEAT

Forestville Eagles (99) defeated Eastern Mavericks (91)

The Eastern Mavericks put up a good fight and even briefly hit the front in the second half but the Forestville had too much firepower with Jordan Forbes scoring 42 in the 99-91 victory.

The Eagles had won five straight ahead of hosting the Mavs at the State Basketball Centre and it was Forestville holding on to a 26-23 lead by quarter-time.

The lead for the Eagles did get out to 10 in the second quarter and was still 51-44 by half-time before it got back out to 10 again in third period but then the Mavericks fired back.

They went on an 8-0 scoring run and even got back in front on the back of a 30-point third quarter but Forestville worked back on top again for the eventual eight-point victory.

The win improves the Eagles to a 9-1 record with six straight wins with Jordan Forbes brilliant with 42 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals on 8/11 three-point shooting.

Daniel Jonson added 15 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, Alex Starling 11 points, four boards and three assists, Greg Mays 10 points, three rebounds and two blocks, Adam Doyle nine points, six boards and three assists, and Fiston Ipassou nine points, five rebounds and two assists.

It's back-to-back losses for the Mavericks who are now 3-7 with Christian Peevy delivering 33 points with five rebounds and two steals on 5/8 three-point shooting.

BJ Symons also had 22 points, nine rebounds and two assists, Harry Morris 15 points, six boards, four assists and two steals, and Curtis Scott 12 points, eight assists, five rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots.

South Adelaide Panthers (103) defeated Sturt Sabres (79)

Lloyd McVeigh and Jeremy Smith led the charge and the South Adelaide Panthers made it eight straight wins and not only handed the Sturt Sabres a first defeat, but did it in dominant fashion winning 103-79.

The two form teams locked horns on Saturday night at Mitchell Park Sports and Community Centre with Sturt arriving unbeaten after nine games and South Adelaide having won seven in-a-row after two first up losses to the Sabres and the Forestville Eagles.

South Adelaide shot out of the blocks to already be leading 61-43 by half-time and then going on with the job from there to emphatically hand the Sabres a first loss of 2026 after they had won their opening nine matches by an average of almost 11 points.

South Adelaide improves to 8-2 as a result of the win with their eight straight victories now coming at an average of 16.9 points with the Sabres now 9-1 after the first defeat.

It was another statement performance from South Adelaide with Lloyd McVeigh delivering 31 points, 11 rebounds and four assists with 6/11 three-point shooting while also playing standout defence on Jacob Rigoni.

Jeremy Smith also continued his MVP-level form with another 21 points, 12 assists, six rebounds and two steals with 8/12 field goal shooting and going 5/6 at the foul line.

Rio Bruton added 17 points, six rebounds, four blocks, three steals and two assists, Yevgen Sakhniuk 12 points and six boards, Jonty Smith 11 points and two assists, and Koby Moir seven points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Sturt suffered a first loss of the season while shooting at just 38 per cent from the field with 7/26 from behind the arc and getting up 10 fewer shots than South Adelaide despite 12 more free throws.

Josh Tomasi top scored for the Sabres with 18 points and six rebounds on 8/12 field goal shooting with DJ Vasiljevic finishing with 15 points and three rebounds on just the nine shot attempts in only 23 minutes.

Rigoni also shot just 2/9 for the game for only 10 points with three rebounds while Seb Griffin added seven points, four rebounds and two steals, and Luke Pfitzner seven points and two rebounds.

Central Districts Lions (113) defeated Southern Tigers (86)

Koen Sapwell, Deng Manyang and Jayden Seymour combined for 72 points as the Central Districts Lions won big 113-86 at home to the Southern Tigers.

Central Districts were back home at STARplex looking to make it consecutive wins and trying to break into the top five hosting a Tigers team looking for a third win of the season.

The two teams combined for 59 points in the first quarter with Centrals leading 30-29 at quarter-time before another 27 points to 22 in the second term saw the Lions leading 57-51 by half-time.

Central Districts continued to take further charge in the second half with 22 points to 17 in the third quarter and 34 to 18 in the fourth on the way to the 27-point victory to improve to a 4-6 record.

Koen Sapwell delivering 25 points, five assists, three rebounds and three steals with 3/6 three-point shooting while Deng Manyang had 25 points and 13 rebounds, and Jayden Seymour 22 points, 10 boards, three assists and two steals.

Kalani Sapwell also had 13 points, 13 assists and three rebounds, Magok Manyang nine points and eight boards, and Clayton Jewell eight points, eight rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots.

The Tigers are now 2-8 for the season with Koop McCalop providing 22 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and two assists with Nick Logan adding 12 points, seven boards and four steals, and Lem Ajith 10 points, three blocks and two assists.

Woodville Warriors (73) lost to Norwood Flames (84)

The Norwood Flames snapped a four-game losing run with a commanding second half display to beat the Woodville Warriors 84-73 with six players scoring in double figures.

Woodville were looking to stay in touch with the top three when hosting the Flames at St Clair Recreation Centre with Norwood arriving on a four-game losing run but still in fifth place.

By the end of the opening quarter it was Norwood with the 19-16 advantage before Woodville had 24 points to 19 in the second term to hold the narrow 40-38 edge by half-time.

After the Warriors ended up leading by nine points in the third quarter, the Flames were able to work their way on top to lead by two at three quarter-time, and then go on with the job for the eventual 11-point victory.

The win improves Norwood to a 4-6 record with Thomas Kurowski finishing with 19 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Campbell Scott also had 17 points with 5/9 three-point shooting, Daniel Webber 15 points and five boards, Mason Whittaker 12 points and four rebounds, Inady Legiste 11 points and five boards, and Aydan Janssan 10 points, 11 rebounds, five steals and four assists.

Woodville are now 6-4 following the loss with Awak Machar providing 17 points, four rebounds and two assists with LJ Booth Jr adding 15 points and 11 boards, Nick Wurm 14 points and four assists, Bennett Sherry 12 points, six rebounds and three blocks, and Joe Jackson nine points, 10 boards and six assists.

West Adelaide Bearcats (129) defeated North Adelaide Rockets (92)

It had been a busy time during the bye week for the West Adelaide Bearcats and that eventuated in the defending champions finding form with the 129-92 win over the North Adelaide Rockets.

Prior to the break the Bearcats fell to a third straight loss having won just two of nine games for the season but they brought in Nick Marshall on the back of his best ever NBL season at the Tasmania JackJumpers.

To fit him in under the points system, they had to led versatile import De'Sean Parsons go who had been putting up impressive numbers but he has already now found another home by returning to the NBL1 West where he has joined Lat Mayen, David Okwera and the East Perth Eagles.

West Adelaide then shot right out of the blocks with 37 points to 19 in the first quarter before another 33 to 22 in the second term to go into half-time leading 70-41.

The Bearcats then finished off with another 34 points to 21 in the last quarter on the way to the 37-point win as they sent a message that there could still be life left in their championship defence yet.

Marshall had a triple double first up with West Adelaide finishing with 25 points, 13 assists, 10 rebounds and two blocks with 5/13 three-point shooting.

Akok Machar added 19 points, four rebounds and four assists on 9/14 shooting for the Bearcats with Braelen Bridges contributing 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, Nik DeSantis 19 points, four assists and three boards, and Tom Kubank 13 points and three rebounds.

North Adelaide are now 2-8 on the season with Kaden Archie finishing with 26 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals with Oskar Jones adding 17 points and four boards, Machar Machar 16 points, two assists and two steals, and Jack King 16 points, five rebounds and five assists.