By Kieren Vartuli

Sturt Sabres 101 | North Adelaide 72

Saturday night, both the Rockets and the Sabres walked into this fixture with a record of 4-4. A win for either team would obviously separate the two teams but also Forestville if they lost too.

It was a tough night for the Rockets right from the get go with Sturt moving the ball around quite well in the first term allowing them to find the basket quite often. With under 6 minutes in the first term remaining, North Adelaide were trailing by 12 points. Despite being down, North’s transition game was good although they weren’t able to finish enough to keep them in it. Sturt was also playing very physical making North work for any points. Going into the first break, the visitors were up 15 points (29-14).

Returning to the floor after the first break, North Adelaide were hustling and penetrating more. Although this was for a short period as Sturt upped the defensive pressure as they were forcing North Adelaide to take some medium range shots instead of getting close to the rim. Both teams were moving the ball around quite well as they were finding the open man. North Adelaide were starting to find some consistency from the floor although so were Sturt. Sturt answering with their buckets was keeping a large margin for the home side. Finishing the half on a high for North Adelaide was Thomas Rowe as he nailed a 3-point buzzer beater leaving the score at 38-57.

The Rockets came out strong in the third as they were playing better on the fast break as well as swinging and spacing. North’s import Cody Rhorer (19 points) was starting to heat up as he went coast-to-coast for a nice layup under pressure after the steal. Sturt were shooting very well from the field as well as out rebounding on the offensive boards when they did miss.

Sturt had an excellent night from the field as they finished with six players in double figures including a game high 22 from Isaac White. Hamish Burns trailed White who totalled 17. Sturt outscored North Adelaide from deep by 5 (9-4) and there are some excellent indications for other sides to take note of when facing the Sabres. As the final siren sounded, the visitors took this one by a demanding 29-points.

Round 10: Saturday, 21 May at 8.15pm

Sturt Sabres v South Adelaide @ Pasadena

North Adelaide v West Adelaide @ Port Adelaide