Last week, the St Kilda Saints went to outright first on the table.
This week, they opened a gap.
An 83-62 win over the Magic Lions gave the Saints a two-game lead as the first round concluded in Dunedin men’s basketball on Saturday.
They moved to five wins from as many games, while the Lions, Mid City Magic and Varsity all trail with 3-2 records.
It was yet another classy display from the Saints team, particularly given it was without the injured James Ross.
In typical Saints fashion it was a collective effort, the side showing its ability to generate quality shots and get scoring out of its entire roster.
Liam Aston and Connor Coll were key in that, the duo having 18 points each.
Aston in particular was threatening from the deep with four three-pointers.
Lions guard Dallas Hartmann almost single-handedly kept his side in touch for much of the game.
The league’s leading scorer — at 32.3 points per game — had another 28 and throughout the first half generated virtually all of the Lions’ scoring.
That reliance was never going to be enough to stick with the Saints, though.
After leading 20-17 at quarter-time, they took control and shot out to a 46-32 halftime lead.
That lead continued to grow early in the third quarter, before a period of full-court pressure from the Lions began to shift momentum.
That generated turnovers and Ben Robertson (13 points) began to get to the hoop, but the Saints weathered the storm.
The Saints went to the final break with a 63-51 lead, before holding the Lions to 11 points and cruising to another comfortable win.
Meanwhile, the Magic had its second consecutive win when it beat Varsity 87-76.
Mitchell Hughan had 27 points as the Magic held the students at arm’s length most of the way.
In the early game, the Andy Bay Falcons faced a 30-17 deficit early, but came back to beat the City Rise Bombers 99-89.
Emerson Watson led the Falcons with 25 points, while James Collins matched him with 25 for the Bombers.
