A commanding display extended the St Kilda Saints’ lead atop the men’s club basketball table on Saturday.
They thrashed the Mid City Magic 85-56 at the Edgar Centre in Dunedin and remain unbeaten eight weeks into the season.
It also gave the Saints a three-win buffer at the top.
That came as the second-placed Magic Lions were upset 91-73 by the City Rise Bombers, who won their first game, while the Andy Bay Falcons claimed their second win, beating Varsity 70-63.
It was the Saints’ win that was the most eye-catching though.
While the Magic is missing key players to the Nuggets, there was still plenty of quality among the team that played on Saturday.
That was evident early, too.
Mitchell Hughan (11 points) proved tough to stop early and helped the Magic out to an early 26-18 lead.
However, the defending champion managed just three second-quarter points.
The offence went cold, while the Saints piled on 27 points at the other end.
Nuggets centre Jack Andrew (21 points) was key both in being a dynamic presence inside, while also showing an ability to step out and shoot from range.
That helped the Saints quickly haul in the deficit, then pull out to a 45-29 halftime lead, after two three-pointers to Sautia Misa.
The Magic rediscovered its scoring touch in the third quarter, but it was unable to close the gap.
Saints guard James Ross, who was returning from injury, had nine of his 15 points in that period and gave the side a 67-48 lead at three-quarter time.
That dominance continued in the fourth quarter, as the Magic added just eight further points to its total.
The Bombers claimed their win after outscoring the Lions 57-28 in the second half.
The Lions, who were without key big man Nathan Hanna, led 45-34 at halftime.
However, the Bombers took a 64-59 lead into the final quarter, after Lawrence Kim dropped 21 of his 33 points in the third.
From there, they continued to pull away, both Steve Robinson (21 points) and James Collins (15 points) chipping in throughout the fourth quarter.
The Falcons claimed their victory after holding Varsity to 17 points in the second and third quarters combined.
While Varsity mounted a fourth-quarter comeback, the 53-37 three-quarter time deficit proved too much to overcome.
Paden Kennedy led a balanced scoring effort for the Falcons with 13 points, while Sam Seleen had 17 for Varsity.
