Men’s Norwood Flames vs Central Districts Lions
The Norwood Flames (4-5) go up against the (3-6) Central District Lions. The Flames have cooled off after winning a few in a row and are looking to restart a winning streak, the Central Districts conversely have just started coming into form and are looking to make a late post-season push. This will be a tough matchup for the Flames but possibly an important win for their season.
The game started with both teams mirroring each other’s scoring, hitting 1 3-pointer and a free-throw each. After the 4-4 start the Lions went on a 13-point run to create a massive first-quarter lead. The Flames were unprepared for this offensive explosion and seemed taken aback, they started to mount their own offensive push but were unable to slow down the red-hot Lions. Eventually, the relentless intensity of the Flames let them bring the game back to 6. The teams finished the quarter remaining relatively even, the Flames trailing 17-25.
Jack Hemphill opened the second quarter with a layup which sparked the Flames offensive and quickly brought the game back to just 3 points. The Lions attempted to regain control of the gamer but were unable to easily break away, the Flames brought the game back to 1. The Lions didn’t panic, maintaining their composure expertly, going on a massive 14-point run. The Flames were struggling on both ends during this run, getting blown by and allowing layups or collapsing and giving up open threes. The Lions exploited this and were able to go into halftime, 39-53.
Exiting halftime the Flames looked fueled to bring the game back as they opened the third quarter with intensity. They quickly brought the game back to 10 points and looked like they could make the game competitive again. The Lions didn’t stop fighting, finding their offensive momentum and pushing the Norwood defence, extending the game beyond 20 points. The offence was unrelenting, Norwood had no answer and couldn’t stop the Lions from extending their lead to 29 by 3-quarter time, 59-88.
The fourth quarter was a fight from the Flames. They didn’t want to go down how they looked throughout the first three-quarters and were fighting to show they were competitive against a team like the Lions. The fight saw some impressive offensive possessions from the Flames and showed that it was more than possible for a win in this game. Although that didn’t happen this time as the Flames fell 89-104.
