Isaac
Years ago
Sturt win both at MARS
Sturt women got up 61-54 after the Flames had the lead at half-time. Marino 15 and BBowley 13. Hurst 17/5/5, Winfield 13 and 8, Smart 12.
Men's game started fairly even and Norwood looked dangerous, but finished as a blow-out. 100-71 Sturt's way, thanks to a 52-34 disparity in the second half.
For Norwood, Krause had 18 but took 6/20 to get there while Cooper was the onl other in double figures, bagging 12 and pulling down 18 boards.
Smylie led the visitors with 22 which Ng was quieter than recent games with 18 points, but faced close defensive attention all game. Forman had 4/7 threes to finish with 19 and 17 in 32 minutes, despite foul trouble.
Refs let a lot go, but most was, in my opinion, fairly balanced. Maybe a couple of questionable calls but nothing that decided the game. There was a lot of wrestling in the post between Forman/Smylie and Cooper. Only time the game got all that unsettled was when Foster hit the floor (probable culprit: Gower), got back up and went after Todd. Bit of eye for an eye and the refs let Foster chest Gower. Then Cooper shoved Gower a couple of times - temper Coops, temper!
Supposedly a bit of action after the game with a hit on Gower in the tunnel - obviously some history doesn't help?
Sturt spent a fair bit of the game running small (Gower only 15 minutes, Forman 30, Smylie 32; while Flames saw 38 minutes from Krause and 37 from Coops) and the Norwood towers seemed as though they could pose some problems, especially on the boards (56-62 Flames way).
Sturt rallied back from an early deficit and had possession and the lead with 3 seconds left in the first quarter. Ng was brought in, but the ball went Forman - Shepherd - MBauer (who barely caught a high pass at full extension) before sticking a huge three.
Second quarter was fairly even, but by the main break the Sabres had a double-digit margin.
Norwood just weren't as good from the field (32% to Sturt's 43%, and Sturt were 47% from outside -- seven players hit threes) and didn't get to the line as often (10/17 to 21/27).
Given that the Flames are a middle-of-the-pack squad that could beat anyone on their night, the margin was a bit surprising.