NBL1 Men Round 5 vs Eastern Mavericks
The South Ave Norwood Flames Men (2 – 2) are taking on the Eastern Mavericks (2 – 2) in round 5 of the NBL1 Central season. The Norwood Flames are coming off a blowout win against the North Adelaide Rockets and looking to carry their momentum into this game and start a winning streak. Meanwhile, the Eastern Mavericks are coming off a heartbreaking 3-point loss to Southern and are looking for a get-back game against the Flames.
A steal and score for the Flames opened the game, followed by a corner 3 from Daniel Webber. Eastern responded to the first 5 from Norwood with their own 5-0 run tying up the game. 6 straight form Norwood brought them an early lead. Some great defence from Norwood, headed by a dominant start from Inady Legiste gave Norwood a strong advantage inside. A block from Legiste led to a Campbell Scott triple to put Norwood up by 7. Eastern was not going to let it blow off early, and coming off their own big block the Mavs took it to the other end and converted an and-1. The Mavs energy was great on both ends, not wavering when Norwood came at them with a hot start. Eastern trimmed their deficit to 1 off some second chance points. Cooper Osborne responded, snagging an o-board and scoring inside to give Norwood some scoreboard help. A great feed on the pick and roll from Thomas Kurowski led Mason Whittaker to an and-1 basket and the Norwood lead grew back out to 4. The defensive intensity from Norwood jumped back up and the Mavs were struggling to get inside and get good looks at the rim. The quarter ended with Eastern finding a seam to the rim trimming the Norwoiod lead to just 4, 25 – 21.
Inady Legiste starts the second quarter off with a triple, the dime coming from Cooper Osborne. The Flames defence remained strong to start the period as they forced consecutive errors from the Mavs. Eastern responded well defensively, rotating well and meeting Norwood at the rim multiple times. A defensive battle ensued; with both teams getting stops and neither really able to break out into transition for an easy look. Eventually Norwood was able to get a semi-trans look, resulting in a defensive lapse from the Mavs and Campbell Scott draining an open three. Out of a timeout Eastern scored a 3 against a zone from Norwood but Campbell Scott responded, hitting another triple. The Mavs were running a trap which Norwood found a way to break creating number advantages towards the rim offensively. Norwood’s defence was truly the highlight of the game this quarter as they continued to muck up the Mavs offence, their only scoring opportunities coming in transition. Campbell Scott drained another triple off a defensive collapse from Eastern, bringing him to 18 in the half and the Norwood lead continued to grow. A putback finish from David Rinaldi put the Norwood lead above 15 with under a minute remaining in the half. As the quarter closes, Norwood leads, 48 – 28.
Some good defensive stops from the Flames started the third quarter off right and a triple from Thomas Kurowski started scoring for the half. Some good offensive looks continued the Flames momentum from the first half. The Mavericks broke the defensive pressure of the Flames but Campbell Scott answered with a quick triple. Eastern had started rolling offensively but were struggling to string together stops allowing Norwood to continue building their lead. Eventually the defensive pressure got to Eastern as they started to slip offensively, making some mistakes and committing frustration fouls on the other end. The Norwood offence was at its best when bigs were cutting off-ball and finding space behind the defence. The Flames were able to build their lead beyond the 30-point mark. Eastern wasn’t folding as they pushed tempo trying to cut into the Norwood lead, the quarter closing 70 – 42.
Campbell Scott split a pair of free-throws to open the fourth but Eastern quickly one-upped the Flames with an and-1 basket on the other end. Eastern started hot and closed the Norwood lead to 22 with a 9-0 run before a timeout from Miles Pearce. Out of the timeout Norwood’s defensive energy was rejuvenated and the Mavs offence was slowed. Still, Norwood was struggling to score, not having moved the scoreboard since the opening free-throw. The Mavs continued to slowly score baskets until the game was within 20, only just over 5-minutes to go. Finally, a transition opportunity for Cooper Osborne broke the 5-minute scoring drought and put Norwood back up by 20. Eastern responded with a triple and continued to pile on the points cutting the lead to 13 with a 7-0 run forcing another timeout from Miles Pearce. A possession with multiple o-boards gave Eastern another 2 before Daniel Webber was able to get Norwood back in the scoring column with a little shotput in the paint. Eastern drained another triple bringing the game back to only 10 points with 2-minutes remaining. Cooper Osborne found his way to the free-throw line and kept his composure nailing both. Eastern was rolling from 3 and kept the pressure on, bringing the game to 9 with another bomb from deep. Kurowski was the next Flame at the line also hitting both and taking the Norwood lead back out to 11. A key stop for the Flames gave them a chance to shut out the game which Inady Legiste took finishing inside off a feed from Daniel Webber. Unfortunately, Cooper Osborne went down with an ankle injury taking him out of the game with just under a minute remaining, wishing him all the best. But another key stop solidified the win, 81 – 68.
