Recap NBL1 Central | Round 7 Sunday

Round 7 of the Mitsubishi Motors NBL1 Central concluded with the Sabres looking to keep long standing streaks over their Eastern Hill rivals the Eastern Mavericks - both contests got close at times but some brilliant B’s, Forbes floor show and a rolling Rigoni made it an afternoon for Sturt to Sabre… 

Here are the results from Sunday's games:

Sabres strike down Mavericks   

The Sturt Sabres brilliant B’s in Brown and Brazel were the streak extenders as they took the Sabres to seven in a row over their Eastern Hills neighbours the Eastern Mavericks 71-51 at the Cave of Springbank.  

Sydney Brown showed her outside threat in the first half with 14 points of her 18 and five rebounds of her eight with Patrica Morris (12 points and eight rebounds) and Airlie Ramsey (13 points and three rebounds) of the Mavs keeping them in the contest with eight points and four rebounds themselves. Steph Formby produced some quality in the third to keep the Mavericks in touch with five of her ten points. 

But the Adelaide Lightning’s Tayla Brazel struck some big blows in transition as she lit up for 21 points and three steals to lead the Sabres to four in a row and third on the table.    

STURT SABRES 71 (Brazel 21, Brown 18, Close, K Mathews 10)

EASTERN MAVERICKS 51 (Ramsey 13, Morris 12, Formby 10)

Forbes floor show and Rigoni roller runs over Mavs in final chapter of weekend

A floor show of triple double nature from import Jordan Forbes and a rolling Rigoni saw the Sturt Sabres run over the top of the Eastern Mavericks in the final term 104-90 at the Cave of Springbank.   

Cameos from Sebastian Griffin (first six points of the match) and Daniel Nash (nine in the opening quarter to finish with 12) for the Sabres were counteracted by the hot shooting Moses Nuangki (11 points for the quarter to finish with 21 for the match) after the Sabres reeled off a 12-0 run. Jordan Rawls beat the buzzer with a flat looking shot to close it to 28-25 after one. 

A big run from the Sabre collective saw them out to a 40-27 margin on the back of 12-2 out of the mini-break. Captain Jack Turnbull hit multiple triples in his 150th match for his junior club to continue to rouse the home crowd - Nuangki trying to keep the Mavs in touch at the half 57-47.

Rigoni exploded from deep with 11 points in the third quarter to have the Sabres out by seven but Lachie Hunter (23 points, 14 rebounds) kept active above the rim with 12 points for the quarter to close it to 80-76 at three quarter time. 

Forbes was a force to be reckoned with in the final quarter completing his triple double with 18 points, 11 assists, 10 rebounds and four steals with Rigoni rolling for more buckets to finish with 27 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. An eye to the future was seen in the final moments as well with Patrick D’Arcy hitting a big three down the stretch to finish with 13 points as did Mavs Ethan McDermott in the close of the chapter for the weekend. 

STURT SABRES 104 (Rigoni 27, Forbes 18, D’Arcy 13)

EASTERN MAVERICKS 90 (Hunter 23, Nuangki 21, Newburn 14)

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