courtesy of : http://guardian-messenger.whereilive.com.au
Lions defy the odds
04 Aug 09 @ 06:43pm by Dale Clarke
FOUR weeks after North seemed to have closed the door on finals and padlocked it shut, the Rockets are facing a do-or-die final round clash with Central Districts to earn their spot in the five.
The Lions have been the story of the season in recent weeks. Since parting ways with import Oliver Prince, they have won four games in a row, including upset wins against West Adelaide and, on Saturday, second-placed Norwood.
To beat West, the Lions were missing Daniel Cioffi. That was centre Daniel Carlin’s last game before going to the Australian Institute of Sport. Since losing him, they beat Eastern, then South, before stunning Norwood 122-103 - this time without three-point specialist Matt Atkins.
In this week’s decisive encounter, the Lions will again be without Cioffi - who scored 36 on Saturday - who has headed back to Italy.
For North, the past four weeks have been a nightmare. The Rockets looked to have booked their place in finals when Erik Burdon hit a three-pointer to beat top side Forestville, in a round where Central and Southern both lost.
That gave the Rockets a two-game gap on Southern, and a three-game gap on Central. At the time, North appeared to have the more favourable run home of the three teams.
But since then, the Rockets have suffered losses to Eastern (9th), Norwood (2nd), and South (10th), to leave the door open for the barnstorming Lions.
South v North
Saturday night’s loss to South came on a three-point buzzer beater by South guard Dan Kosmider.
Trailing by two with less than 10 seconds on the clock, the Panthers rushed the ball down court, leaving Kosmider little time to get the winning shot up for the 91-90 victory.
The shot sparked amazing scenes, as teammates and supporters chased Kosmider across the court and formed a pile-on near the baseline at Marion.
``I started running towards the door, but it was blocked, then everyone just jumped on me,’’ Kosmider said.
``Unfortunately the position I was in, my knees were going straight into the ground, it was the most pain I’ve ever been in.’’
The Panthers had trailed by 7 with less than two minutes left, before Adam Blight connected for a two and a three pointer on consecutive plays.
Earlier, they had been down as much as 19 in the third quarter.
The dramatic win brought up painful memories for North - the Rockets were knocked out of last year’s finals on a Kosmider buzzer-beater.
The end of the game was also strikingly similar to South’s win against Central at the same time last year. In that game, Kosmider also hit the game-winner, which was enough to carry the Panthers into the finals.
On Saturday, Kosmider finished with nine points and seven assists, while Matt Davies top-scored with 22.
For North, Erik Burdon had 19, despite going 1/9 from three-point land, and Luke Mapunda also had 19.
Nick Hambour was solid with 13 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.
In the women’s, North secured its place in finals with an 83-69 win against the Panthers.
The two teams are almost certain to meet in a knockout clash in the first week of finals.
Norwood v Central
Central coach Scott Whitmore was thrilled with his team’s win (Central 122 d Norwood 103), which was powered by Daniel Cioffi’s 36 points.
``Cioffi hit some of the biggest shots you will ever see,’’ Whitmore said.
``We always talked about getting to a position where we needed to win this last game against North.
``That’s the whole reason for recruiting (Cioffi), to get us to that game against North at Hillcrest.’’
The Lions added Cioffi to their roster with eight games remaining in the season, knowing he would be unable to play finals.
On Tuesday, Cioffi and his wife Yolanda flew back to Spain, the recently married couple set to celebrate their wedding, part two, with Yolanda’s family.
``I singled him out in front of the team before the game, saying `this is what we wanted you here for’,’’ Whitmore said.
``He just said `I’m ready for it’.’’
Cioffi went on to hit eight three-pointers, including the killer blow with two minutes left for an 11-point lead.
The Lions had trailed by six at three-quarter-time, before unleashing their best quarter of the season to outscore the defending champions by 25.
Cioffi also had seven rebounds, six steals and four assists in an all-round performance.
Other Lions contributors included Jacob Templeton with 22 points, eight assists and eight boards, Ben Todd with a season-high 20 points, Lachie Parker also with 20, and Matt Clarke with 13 points, 14 assists and seven rebounds.
Norwood’s Woollacott Medal frontrunners Todd Matthews and Andrew Webber again provided headaches for their opposition. Matthews had 19 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, while Webber had 23 points.
In the women’s, Norwood won 84-33, but due to other results on Saturday, the Flames will miss out on finals this year, regardless of this weekend’s results.
Forestville v Southern
THE Southern Tigers women pulled off a late-season upset by beating second-placed Forestville 66-60 on Saturday night.
The result ruined any hope Forestville had of finishing top, but won’t be enough for Southern to get a sniff at finals, with only one game remaining.
The Tigers came roaring home at Wayville, outscoring Forestville 21-11 in the last quarter, after coughing up their first half lead.
Stephanie Gates was the driving force behind the win, scoring 16 points with 11 rebounds and four blocks, while Ashleigh Spencer chipped in with eight points and eight rebounds.
Jess Fergus scored 23 points for Forestville, and Mia Newley had 16 points on 8/28 shooting, to go with 10 rebounds and five assists.
In the men’s, Forestville was in control all night to run out a winner, 112-88.
Brad Gerlach had another top game against his former club, scoring 30 points with 11 rebounds and six assists.
Brenton Campbell also rejoined the Eagles, with 24 points including four three-pointers, while Peter Hoban ripped in a round-high 20 rebounds.
For Southern, Tristan Braithwaite top-scored with 22 points, SHane Boal added 15, while Michael Florance (12 points and 11 rebounds) and Brad Bungey (10 and 12) recorded double-doubles.
West v Sturt
WEST Adelaide is not carrying the best form into finals, despite being the dominant women’s team all season.
The Bearcats have sealed top spot with a 14-3 record, but each of those three losses has come in the past five weeks to fellow top five sides in South, Forestville and, on Saturday, Sturt.
The Sabres toppled West 71-60 to seal their own place in finals, with Norwood now unable to qualify.
West will stay top regardless of this weekend’s result against the Southern Tigers.
Brigid Bowley, with 18 points and six rebounds, led the way for Sturt, while Angela Marino had 18 points and six assists, and Caroline Burgess added 13 points and eight boards.
For West, Nikita-Lee Martin had 21 points and seven rebounds, while Sam Woosnam had 15 and seven.
In the men’s, West caused a stir with its 104-89 upset against Sturt.
The Sabres were missing Jacob Holmes, but the Bearcats still had to contend with Darren Ng, who scored 26.
Ryan Kersten had a top night for West, scoring 27 with seven assists, and Blake Truslove had 25 and 13 rebounds.
The Bearcat men are guaranteed to finish fourth and host an elimination final against either North Adelaide or Central Districts.
Woodville v Eastern
WOODVILLE will be setting its sights on sending South home with the wooden spoon when the sides clash this Saturday.
The Warriors, on the back of a 90-70 win against Eastern, can ensure the Panthers take the spoon home, as they are sitting bottom, one win behind the Mavericks.
The Warriors had big games from Cameron Wilson (24 points, seven assists), Chris Furness (23 points, 22 rebounds) and Adam Miller (21 points, 14 rebounds) as they easily pushed aside a Mavericks line-up missing Brad Hill.
Shane Breheny was again the shining light for Eastern with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
In the women’s, the Mavs got home 82-70 for what is likely to be their last win of the season, as they face Forestville this week.
Jamie Fricker scored 20 points for Eastern, while Jodie Barratt had a huge night for the Warriors with 14 points and 17 rebounds. Ingrid Richards had 19 points.
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