By David Tonks

The Sabres always looked to be in control of their qualifying final winning 86-74 in front of an enthusiastic home crowd. Sturt narrowly won all four quarters of the contest with Jacob Holmes and Darren Ng as their major scorers. Ng led all scorers with a 24 point haul and Holmes was not far behind him finishing with 23 points.

Both teams went into the game with settled line-ups - there were no changes to the makeup of the sides that played the last minor round game when Sturt defeated North and Norwood lost to Forestville on the last shot of the night. Norwood Coach Rupert Sapwell however was not available, so David Cooper not only played but also undertook the coaching role.

In the first quarter, Sabres guard Corey Maynard was on target hitting two triples and by the mid-point of the term had amassed 8 points out of the Sabres first 11. The Flames fell behind early before Andrew Webber and Dan Thompson helped the team close the margin. Norwood took the lead late in the quarter before Holmes hit a three and another basket in the last minute of the period to give the Sabres the lead 21-18 at the first break.

In the second Ng and Holmes combined for 17 of Sturt's 21 points for the quarter. Guard Tom Daly scored the other 4 points. Both Holmes and Ng put on a shooting display and with 3:15 left to halftime after Ng scored his first triple of the night Sturt led 36-26, the biggest lead of the game so far. Corey Ottey for the Flames with 8 points during the period kept Norwood within striking distance at halftime when Sturt held sway by 5 points, 42-37.

Scoring slowed for both sides in the third, Norwood only able to register 9 points and the Sabres a little better when they finished with 15 points extending the margin at the three quarter time break to 11 points, 57-46. Again Holmes hurt the Flames with a reverse layup with 52 seconds to play and a three pointer with 19 seconds left.

In the final quarter after Daly hit a triple and with Norwood unable to make any headway into the deficit Cooper called for a timeout. When play resumed the Flames went for a smaller line-up and it appeared to work when Todd Matthews scored and then Ottey hit a three.

Todd Gower scored the next basket for Sturt, then it became a shootout with 5 three-pointers in less than 2 minutes of play. Andrew Webber and Keith Krause hit for Norwood but Darren Ng hit three for the Sabres to maintain the buffer. Norwood fouled to stop the clock but when Ng hit 4/4 and Daly 2/2 from the foul line it only served to extend the final margin.   

The Norwood Flames, who are the reigning champions, now face Forestville in the knock-out first Semi-Final and the Sabres are pitted against the Bearcats in the second Semi-Final. The winner of that match earns a week off and a direct path into the Grand Final.