Norwood men sit atop the Central ABL ladder with three wins from three games, the latest of which came at the expense of South at Marion.

South entered the game on a high, after defeating the more fancied Eagles the night before. Agel Machar started proceedings with a three point play, but three pointers from Keith Krause, Andrew Webber, Corey Ottey and Todd Matthews saw  the Flames pull away to a 6 point lead. Round 2 top scorer Lucas Smith and Tom McKenzie were the most productive Panthers in the first quarter, T-Mac hitting two threes and an 18 foot jump shot, and Smith splitting two defenders with excessive hang time on one of three baseline drives. He received an unsportsmanlike foul for a late entry to a scuffle involving Dan Thompson and Mark Fuller, but at quarter time, South were still up by a point.

David Cooper demonstrated his defensive strength in the second quarter, getting after loose balls, boxing out two players at a time, and drawing a charge. At the other end of the court, Machar spiked one of Cooper's shots to the roar of the Marion crowd, but Cooper quietened them, returned the favour 2 minutes later, two handed. The quarter, however,  belonged to Corey Ottey, whose highlights included a round-the back pass to Dan Thompson, a block on Ken Carter, and a three pointer that triggered a Kelly Manning timeout. With Matthews and Thompson also contributing, the lead extended to 16 at half time.

Norwood's start to the second half was awesome. Ottey hit another three, as did Krause, and South had no answer. The athletic Dan Thompson was scoring at will, and Will Foster's dunk on transition further demoralised the Panthers. Norwood won the quarter 32-17 and were on a roll.

The final quarter was even and fairly lacklustre, with one exception. South's Damian Coffey didn't play last year after being involved in a motor bike accident, but Coffey was a machine in the last quarter, grinding out 8 points in 11 minutes of court time.

Norwood had many contributors, but the most effective were tandem point guards Todd Matthews and Andrew Webber who had the identical stat lines of 19 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists. Corey Ottey's 14 included 4 three pointers and Dan Thompson had 18 points and 12 rebounds.

Lucas Smith led South's scoring with 18, and when he was hitting shots early in the game, his team was competitive. Tom McKenzie finished with 15 points and 8 rebounds, while Steve Pilkington had 12 and 11.