The City Rise Bombers found form down the stretch.
They battled for three quarters, before running over the Mid City Lions late to claim a 92-70 win as the Dunedin men’s club basketball regular season wrapped up on Saturday.
It is form they will need, too.
They will face the St Kilda Saints, the same team who beat them convincingly last week, in their semifinal this Saturday.
The Bombers had some extra firepower back on Saturday, notably backcourt duo Caleb Smiler and Ben Hoskin.
Smiler led the Bombers with 24 points, while Nikora Kavanagh and Patrick Tipene had strong outings, posting 20 and 19 points respectively.
And they were all among the action as the Bombers raced out to a 25-11 lead to end the first quarter.
They led 31-18 early in the second quarter, when a Lachie Cameron three-pointer sparked the Lions’ resurgence.
Harry Bezett (20 points) got to the hoop twice, before Oak Chisholm hit a pair of jump shots to bring the Lions within one.
They took the lead moments later, when Bezett finished off an offensive rebound.
Smiler stopped the run, though.
He drew contact on a spin move and finished a three-point play, before Hoskin matched him when he was fouled on a floater.
But neither team could pull away.
The Lions led 43-41 at halftime, and after a tight third quarter, a Hoskin three-pointer just before the buzzer gave the Bombers a 62-58 lead.
At that point the Bombers made their move.
Tipene split the gap with a nice pass for a running Hoskin to score in transition, before Smiler added a triple.
Smiler was fouled in transition on the next play, and after a timeout, hit both free throws to make it 69-58.
Bezett responded with a pair of free throws, and while the Lions set up a press, the Bombers exploited it to find Kavanagh unguarded under the hoop.
And the onslaught continued from there. Smiler and Kavanagh were the key scorers as they took it to 82-63, a lead the Bombers held through to the end.
Meanwhile, the Mid City Magic completed an unbeaten regular season in anticlimactic fashion, being defaulted to by the Andy Bay Falcons.
They will face the Lions next week, who finished fourth with a 6-9 record.
It is the second Mid City playoff derby — the 2020 final being the other — since the Lions’ entry to the league in 2017.
In Saturday’s other game the St Kilda Saints beat Varsity 87-50, Tyler Lapham top-scoring with 17 points.
It lifts the Saints to a 9-6 record in third place, taking a four-game winning streak into their semifinal against the 11-4 second-placed Bombers.
