By James Woite

 

Norwood Flames (18-4) v Woodville Warriors (18-5)

At Mars, the Flames and Warriors will clash in the Second Semi Final for the second successive year, with a place in the Grand Final beckoning.

In last year’s Semi, the Warriors got the better of the Flames, winning 86-72. The match catapulted the Warriors towards their first premiership since 2005, while the Flames’ season was ended by West in the Preliminary Final.

The Warriors have been able to enjoy recent success against the Flames. They swept the regular season series 2-0, and have won their last four against the red and the blue.

Back on May 2, the Warriors won all four quarters, running out 87-73 victors at Mars. Mitchell Creek had 32 points and 18 rebounds. Andrew Webber picked up 21 points and 6 assists for the Flames.

Most recently on July 18 at St Clair, the Flames had the better of the Warriors for three quarters. Yet the Warriors found a way to win, outscoring the Flames 26-14 in the fourth period for a 77-70 victory. Darren Ng had a big second half, finishing with 18 points and 4 rebounds. Matthew Lycett registered 20 points and 7 rebounds for the Flames.

Shooting was much more of an issue for the Flames than the Warriors in the regular season. The Flames followed up a 36 per cent shooting display on May 2 with a 37 per cent effort on July 18. The Warriors shot 52 per cent on May 2, although the Flames pegged them back to 42 per cent on July 18.

Creek eclipsed his 32 point tally in the first matchup with the Flames, during last week’s Qualifying Final triumph against West. Creek scored 36, almost half of his team’s tally in an 80-64 win.

The Flames, by virtue of securing the Minor Premiership, had the week off.

The winner of this match will have next week off, before suiting up in the Grand Final. The loser will host the winner of West v Sturt in the Preliminary Final.

 

West Adelaide Bearcats (15-8) v Sturt Sabres (13-10)

The Sabres will be chasing their first win in eight meetings against the Bearcats, in the First Semi Final at Port Adelaide.

The Sabres have not beaten the Bearcats since June 16, 2012.

The Bearcats won this year’s regular season series 3-0. The Sabres were without starting centre Jan Warbout for all three matches.

It was the Bearcats who caused the Sabres their first loss of 2015, back on March 29. Despite not having Peter Crawford in the side, the Bearcats pulled away late for a 91-79 victory. David Sturner had 18 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists for the Bearcats. The Sabres got 23 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists from Clifford Reed.

The Bearcats had Crawford in uniform for the teams’ second clash on May 13, although they were without Kurtis Phillips. Crawford scored 18, as the Bearcats held on for a 73-69 win. Reed scored 26 for the Sabres.

Despite losing Blake Truslove to injury in the first quarter, the Bearcats earned their biggest win versus the Sabres on June 13. Sturner had 31 points and 18 rebounds in a 96-77 rout. Dylan Rawson registered 19 points and 7 rebounds for the Sabres.

The Bearcats have got significantly more points than the Sabres from free throws and three point shots over the course of the trio of battles. The Bearcats were 43-65 from the foul-line and 25-62 from beyond the arc. In contrast, the Sabres were just 17-30 on FTs and 16-48 on 3FGs.

Behind 26 points and 10 rebounds from Reed, the Sabres overcame North 80-78 in the Elimination Final at Hillcrest last week. It was the Sabres’ first win in a trio of fixtures with North this season.

The Bearcats were beaten for the third time in four clashes with Woodville, 64-80, in last week’s Qualifying Final. The poor result was in spite of 20 points and 9 rebounds from Crawford.

The winner of this final will play the loser of Norwood v West in the Preliminary Final.