A 23 point effort from 36er Erik Burdon helped North across the line against Southern, but it was two huge plays from brother Leif that sealed the deal at the Cage.

In the debut of Dusty Rychart who started at power forward, and the return of Ryan Kersten who came of the bench, the Rockets found it difficult to shake the Tigers.

Integrating two new players into the lineup (three if you include Ben Groves who missed last week's game), North looked out of sync early and were fortunate to maintain a four point lead at the quarter and half time breaks.

Tiger veteran Ben Hodges is in the best shape of his career and his 25 points were even more impressive given that most of them came from jump shots from the splitline trailer position he has made his own. He started the third quarter with an 18 footer, and consecutive post seals and layups from Daniel "don't call me Dan" Lalic had the Tiger crowd thinking that this was the right time in the season to be meeting the Rockets. A three from Brad Gerlach reduced the lead to 2, but this was matched by another from Erik Burdon. Hodges hit yet another trailing jump shot and when a set play for Gerlach resulted in a backcut for a layup, Southern were up 2 at three quarter time and on a roll.

Kersten started the fourth quarter with a 20 foot jump shot and a coast to coast layup, with speed that belied the AussieHoopsAmerica snippet you may have seen on ESPN. Rychart hit two turnaround shots from around the key, but Lalic was holding his own, and a mesmerising 5 bounce post move kept Southern ahead. With four and a half minutes remaining, Leif Burdon stunned all with a 24 foot three pointer when the shot clock was not winding down, and the lead changed hands again. Michael Zorich made a layup and hit two foul shots in the last minute to give North a 91-87 margin, and a great defensive play from Leif Burdon on Gerlach meant that this was the final margin.

Erik Burdon's 23 points came at 56%. Rychart settled into town with 22 points and 15 rebounds, and Nick Hambour also had a double double with 11 and 15.

For Southern, Ben Hodges was excellent for the second game straight, hitting 25 points at 75%. Daniel Lalic's 18 points were at 61% against taller opponents, and Gerlach had 17 points and 12 rebounds.

Hats off to Wendy O'Connor, whose post-game spreads at Morphett Vale have been devoured since the dawn of time. Kudos also to the depth of the Rockets, whose 16 player bench includes winner of the Edward Scissorhands lookalike contest Sam Biermann, and rookie Matt Lycett who has less than 24 hours to find some socks to match his shoes.