Men’s Norwood Flames vs West Adelaide Bearcats
Every game is vital for the Norwood Flames (2-4) as they are trying to get back into post-season contention, a tough game against the (3-3) West Adelaide Bearcats would be a massive win to tie the teams in the standings. The Bearcats have some good momentum coming off 2 straight wins, stealing this game would be massive for the Flames season.
The game opened with 5-straight points for the Bearcats before Jack Hemphill was able to hit a three and open the scoring for the Flames. Anthony Drimic of the Bearcats was showing why he’s a star in this league, getting to the rim at will and getting West Adelaide an early 6-point lead, forcing a timeout from Flames coach Tim Odell. Unfortunately, this timeout couldn’t kill the Bearcats’ offensive momentum and the Flames kept falling early. A quick spot of shooting from Jack Hemphill and Blake Morrow closed the gap to 2, but the Bearcats responded by blowing the game back out to 9 points at the quarter end, 27-18.
Early in the second, the Bearcats’ lead escaped to double-digits but the Flames offence kept the game in check, returning their deficit to single-digits. Jack Hemphill was electric coming out of a Bearcats’ timeout, scoring 4 in a row and igniting the Norwood offence. This sudden burst of production brought the Flames into a 2-point contest. West Adelaide eventually matched the Flames and a back-and-forth battle of scoring ensued. Both teams were contributing to their offences at all 3-levels, working each other down and scoring whenever an advantage arose. This entertaining quarter of basketball came to a climactic end as both teams scored on their last possessions, including a buzzer-beater for the Bearcats. This brought the close of the half, Bearcats up 49-43.
The third quarter brought more of an offensive duel, with both teams finding seams in the defence which they could exploit, this led to a great combination of 3-point scoring and electric dunks. This entertaining offensive game was also providing a way for Norwood to slowly creep back into the game, every so often getting a stop and score or trading a 3 for a 2, they slowly brought the game back to 2 points off a Jack Hemphill dunk. 2 more possessions of back-and-forth saw the changing point in this game, Mirko Djeric, who hit 4 threes in a row for the Bearcats, completely unanswered. This twelve-point run brought an otherwise close and entertaining game to a blowout in mere minutes as the quarter drew to a close, 74-60.
The fourth opened with a quick bucket for Riley Harrap and the Flames, a positive start after the last period. Unfortunately, it seems the wind was already taken out of Norwood’s sails as their defence was lacklustre, letting the Bearcats score at the rim at will. Tim Odell had seen enough and called a timeout early in the fourth. This timeout did successfully spark the Flames, their offence clicking enough to again slowly outscore the Bearcats for the next five minutes but the damage was already done and in garbage time the lead was only extended. The Flames fell 110-84.
