By Benito Carbone

Central Districts Lions 75 | West Adelaide Bearcats 68

The Central Districts Lions ended their three game slide with a sensational overtime win over the West Adelaide Bearcats on Sunday. The Lions saw four players reach double figures and had Daniel Carlin (19 rebounds, 18 points) to thank in overtime who hit four clutch free throws to seal the win at Pasadena. Meanwhile, West shot at just 29% from the field and will be left to rue their chances after losing a match many would have penciled in as a win.

The Lions were the faster side out of the blocks, racing out to an 11-4 lead as Clausen (8 points) and Larkins (14 points) both landed shots from downtown. Teammate Luke Frost’s game didn’t last long; he hit the court heavily to the contact of Truslove, causing his chin to bleed profusely. The Central’s man took no further part in the match and the Bearcats started to make inroads finding themselves 3 points down at the first break. West Adelaide hit their stride at the beginning of the second term with a nine-point streak thanks to brilliant plays from Truslove (19 points, 22 rebounds), Spadavecchia and star import Perkins (22 points, 6 rebounds). The sides exchanged threes in a dominant battle with a Jordan Centenara (16 points, 8 rebounds) three-pointer good enough to see the Lions hold a 31-29 lead at half-time.

The third quarter continued to be physical and thanks to a swish from behind the arc by Marsing (10 points, 7 rebounds), Central Districts were able to build a 6-point lead. The Pasadena Stadium started to resemble a pressure cooker though as the Bearcats upped their game to take a 4-point lead to the final quarter. It wasn’t long before the Lions regained the lead before a huge three from Adam Pearce allowed the Bearcats to take over but Centrals continued to level the scores and the game was sent to overtime.

In OT, points seemed hard to come by as both sides couldn’t make their shots fall unless they were free throws. The Lions realised this and continued to drive to the ring for fouls, while West Adelaide shot 19-36 from the free throw line. Carlin’s dominance from the line proved the difference, as West Adelaide scored just two points in the period to go down 75-68.

The win sees the Lions finally get off the mark and they will look to make it two consecutive against the 0-4 Eastern Mavericks. The Bearcats on the other hand, fall to 2-2 and will be desperate to bounce back against South next week.

Round 5: Saturday, 16 April 2016 @ 8:15pm

Central Districts Lions v Eastern Mavericks at Adelaide Hills

West Adelaide Bearcats v South Adelaide Panthers at Port Adelaide