South Adelaide Panthers (6-6, 6th) v Forestville Eagles (9-3, 2nd)

Forestville will be hoping for a seventh win in eight games when it visits South Adelaide on Saturday.

Early in the season, much of the load was placed on the shoulders of Rashad Tucker (19 ppg, 14.5 rpg, 5.3 apg).

However, the Eagles have developed as a team in recent weeks, with the likes of Brad Sullivan, James Boonstoppel, Neil Mottram, John Wernham and Adam Doyle stepping up to the plate.

Sullivan scored 30 points and Boonstoppel 17 in Forestville’s whitewash of the Warriors, which shot the Eagles up to second on the ladder.

Despite a seven point lead at quarter-time and 34 points, 16 boards and 3 blocks from Daniel Johnson, South went down 87-94 to North Adelaide, ending its three game winning streak.

The Panthers are sixth on the ladder, but sit just one win behind fourth-placed Sturt with six games to play.

Last time they met, Forestville won 95-80, minus Mottram and Boonstoppel.

With Mottram and Tucker both capable of holding their own against Johnson, I think the Eagles will have too much depth and knock off the Panthers for the second time this year.

Norwood Flames (9-2, 1st) v Eastern Mavericks (4-8, 8th)

The Mavs will be desperate for a victory when they go on the road to Mars to face Norwood on Saturday.

Eastern’s finals hopes are continuing to fade and have been made worse by a 83-95 home loss to Sturt in Round 12.

Brad Hill had a mammoth 39 points, but with Ben Madgen absent, the Mavs did not have enough options at the helm.

Eastern has now lost six of its past seven games.

The Flames maintained top spot with ease, smashing Southern 99-54.

They won the first quarter by 14, the second by 15 and the third by 14, in what was the biggest rout this season.

Keith Krause had a season-high 21 points in that match, taking his season tally from 39 points to 60.

David Cooper had 14 points and 14 rebounds, while Andrew Webber, Daniel Webber, Todd Matthews and Ben Howell also scored in double figures.

Last time they met, Norwood got up 89-81 on the road.

Look for the Flames to pick up another victory and hold on to first for another week.

Sturt Sabres (7-5, 4th) v Central District Lions (2-9, 9th)

Central Districts will be hoping to make it two upsets in as many weeks in its Round 13 road clash with Sturt.

Last week, the Lions knocked off a Dowdell-less West 73-70, ending a four game losing streak.

Josh Kollasch had 31 points and 8 rebounds in a match-winning display.

The Sabres have hit form at the right time of the season.

Sturt is currently on a four game winning streak, capped off with a road win over Eastern.

The Sabres had the match close to wrapped up by half-time, leading 43-25.

Jacob Holmes had his second triple-double of the season with 19 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists, while Jan Warbout, Darren Ng and John Marriott all had double-doubles.

If Centrals is to pinch an unlikely win, it will need to keep the Sabres off the boards, who held a 54-28 rebounding edge in last round’s victory.

Last time they met, both teams were yet to win, before Sturt broke its duck with an 85-73 victory.

Overall, I believe the Sabres have too many options and will win this one comfortably.

West Adelaide Bearcats (8-4, 3rd) v North Adelaide Rockets (7-5, 5th)

The Bearcats will be aiming to return to their best form when they host North Adelaide on Saturday in the Match of the Round.

Four rounds ago, West looked as though it could be headed for back to back Minor Premierships.

However, an overtime victory over struggling Eastern is the Bearcats only victory since, and they are now only two wins above sixth-placed South.

Minus Jeff Dowdell and Tristan Braithwaite, West went down by three to Centrals last week.

Blake Truslove was good with 18 points and 11 rebounds, while Anthony Spadavecchia and Ben Evans each scored 13.

The Rockets, meanwhile, have won six out of seven, and have not missed a beat since losing Rhys Carter (13.4 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 5.1 apg).

North got up over the Panthers in Round 12, on the back of Josh Bond’s 20 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals and Brandon Brine’s 19 points and 5 rebounds.

Matthew Lycett, Brett Collins, Tom Rowe and Ryan Franceschinis also scored in double figures.

This game will feature the two highest three-point converters in the competition, with former Bearcat Bond (35 three-pointers) and David Nurse (33 three-pointers) going head-to-head.

Last time these teams faced off, West won comfortably 76-63, but the Rockets are a different team now.

Intriguingly, the Bearcats are one of only two teams (South being the other) in the last two years to score a regular season home win against North.

That was, albeit, by one point late last year.

With the Rockets in the better form of the two sides, I reckon they will grab another road scalp.

Woodville Warriors (5-7, 7th) v Southern Tigers (2-10, 10th)

The Warriors will be desperate for a win to keep their finals hopes alive when they host Southern on Saturday.

Woodville has dropped its past three and slipped from fourth to seventh in the process.

Last week, the Warriors were no match for a revved up Forestville, going down 80-95, although the scoreboard did not reflect general play.

Jarrod Graves had 14 points and Adam Miller 12.

Southern’s 45 point loss to Norwood last week means it has now lost a league-high three times by over 30 points.

The one consolation was that everyone got on the scoreboard, led by Sam Hemmings’ 13 points.

The Tigers shot just 28.8% from the floor, 53.6% from the foul-line, had 24 turnovers and were outrebounded 33-52.

Those statistics will not win them many games.

However, the last time they played Woodville they gave up just 27.5% shooting from the field.

That was only good enough to get them up by two, as the teams combined for just 106 points in the lowest-scoring game of the season.

The Warriors should score a lot more points this time, bouncing back from their poor recent performance for an important victory.

By James Woite