The star guard dropped 34 points in a dominant display, propelling the St Kilda Saints to a 98-77 win over the City Rise Bombers on Saturday.
It was a statement performance, as the Saints comfortably dismantled a Bombers team two weeks before the teams meet again in the semifinals.
It was also the Bombers’ first loss to a team other than the unbeaten Mid City Magic.
And it was Martin that did much of the damage.
The Otago Nuggets guard has had a quiet start to his club career, but he ignited into action.
He twice got to the hoop through traffic, finishing classy moves to get the Saints going.
At the other end Patrick Tipene (24 points) was similarly strong early, the guard scoring both inside and out and helping the Bombers to a 16-13 lead.
But the Saints finished the quarter stronger.
They began getting stops and pushing the ball, Mike Ruske controlling the pace and turning playmaker more so than scorer this week.
He added a pair of baskets though, before Martin finished a euro-step to take the lead back at 17-16.
The Saints rode that momentum, and a pair of Ben Foote three-pointers to end the quarter gave them a 28-18 lead.
That continued through the second quarter, and while Tipene hit two quick triples to bring the Bombers back to 37-29, the Saints responded with a 12-1 run to open a convincing gap.
In that run they showed their range of threats as four different players — Martin not being one of them — contributed baskets.
And that was largely how it stayed.
Martin continued to smoothly keep his tally heading upwards, while Lawson Morris-Whyte (18 points) was a force inside, including a couple of slam dunks which lifted the energy.
Quality young big man Harry Townsend (16 points) responded with a heavy dunk of his own, to bring some excitement to the Bombers’ bench.
But while they kept battling, they just did not have the firepower to pull back.
The Saints led 74-57 at three-quarter time, before cruising through to pass the 20-point margin at fulltime.
While certainly a statement display from the Saints, there is potential for the Bombers to put out a much stronger lineup in two weeks' time, depending on player availability.
In other games, Mac Stodart had 22 points as the Mid City Magic moved to 14-0 with a 100-70 win over Varsity.
Oak Chisholm led the Mid City Lions with 13 points as they beat the Andy Bay Falcons 100-50, locking in their top four spot in the process.
