Saints now unbeaten leaders

A big fourth quarter has taken the St Kilda Saints clear at the top of the table.

They beat Varsity 76-60 in Saturday’s men’s club basketball match between the competition’s two unbeaten teams.

The Saints maintained a buffer throughout the match, but Varsity remained in touch at 59-53 heading into the final quarter.

Then St Kilda held the students to seven fourth-quarter points to pull away to a fourth consecutive victory.

James Ross led the way for the Saints with 19 points.

He scored 13 of those in the third quarter, while Tyler Lapham and Connor Coll both had 15 each.

That duo was key early, as they scored the Saints’ first 14 points and helped them to a 20-13 buffer at quarter-time.

However, they were unable to get away and Varsity pulled back the deficit to 37-32 at halftime.

Ross began to take over for the Saints in the third quarter, but Varsity star Kyle Owen (16 points) prevented the margin getting too large.

However, Varsity managed just two field goals in the final quarter and the Saints emerged victors.

In the late game the Magic Lions toppled the Andy Bay Falcons 109-105 in an overtime thriller.

Dallas Hartmann and Nathan Hanna had 39 and 35 points respectively for the Lions, who finished strongly after trailing by double digits in the third quarter.

Hanna’s presence in the post was key, the big man proving tough to stop both in getting to the hoop and on the offensive boards.

Meanwhile, Hartmann showed his class down the stretch. He hit four of his eight three-pointers in the fourth quarter, in which he scored 16 points, to pull the Lions back into the game and tie the score at 94-94 at the end of regulation.

Another two three-pointers followed in overtime, as the Lions opened up a 105-98 gap that the Falcons could not pull back.

Paden Kennedy top-scored for the Falcons with 21 points.

Meanwhile Joe Ahie had 18 points as the Mid City Magic moved to 2-2 with an 85-71 win over the City Rise Bombers.

Add a Comment