By Kieren Vartuli

Norwood Flames 84 | North Adelaide 72

The North Adelaide men hosted the Norwood Flames in what was sure to be an intense matchup on Saturday night.

Right from the get-go, the intense gameplay allowed for a great sight with North Adelaide’s Brett Collins forcing a turnover and scoring in transition to answer back to Norwood’s opening 3-ball. From here, the Flames were able to heat up from the floor outscoring the Rockets 8-2, which gave them a 7-point lead in the first term. Both clubs were playing aggressive interior defence and were both able to emphatically send back shots. Cody Rhorer showed some good signs coming off the bench by scoring a quick 5-points and bringing a 10-point deficit back down to 5 at the end of the 1^st quarter.

Both sides got into a little groove early in the second term leaving the score at 20-24. After a smart 3-pointer with the shot clock winding down off an inbound, the margin was set at 2-points giving a good sight for the North Adelaide fans. On the defensive end of the hardwood for the Rockets, they tended to double team whoever was driving towards the rim. This was not a problem for the visitors as they were able to score from elsewhere. The Flames were quite accurate from 3-point land finishing with 9 successful makes for the night.  Throughout the second quarter, Norwood were playing very well as they were forcing North Adelaide to use their entire 24 second shot clock and they built a 16-point halftime lead.

A bright spark in what was a tough night for North Adelaide’s Adam Schild (11 points, 5 fouls) was his standing dunk to open up the quarter. This was the beginning of a strong quarter offensively as North Adelaide were able to outscore the Flames 16-15 after a final make before the buzzer for Norwood. Raymond Harding provided a nice highlight as he dazzled the crowd with some flashy handles and nailed the mid range jumper. With the visitors up 15-points heading into the final quarter, it was going to be a strong finish for both sides.

The final term was quite strong for the Flames as many of their shots were falling despite the defence applied. The home side outscored them in the quarter once again although their earlier lead proved vital. Norwood were able to keep their lead healthy by dominating inside as well as making the extra pass to provide a safe basket. As the evening’s final siren rang, Norwood gained a 12-point victory on the road.

Norwood was very unselfish this evening as they had 5 players in double figures led by Ian O’Boyle’s game high 21-points which included four triples. North Adelaide also played well offensively but had 3 players in double figures, which was led by Cody Rhorer’s 18 off the bench followed closely by Luke Pike’s 16.  

The win has kept the point and percentage difference between first and second place at 4-points and 24.45% respectively. There is a lot of work to be done by the Flames although it is possible to gain the 1^st seed by the end of the season.

Round 15: Saturday, 2 July at 8.15pm
Norwood Flames v Central Districts @ Mars
North Adelaide v Forestville @ Wayville