Sixers take hold of Razorbacks
The Adelaide 36ers have notched up their sixth straight victory of the season with a 111-107 win in Friday night's grand final rematch with West Sydney Razorbacks at the Clipsal Powerhouse.
Sixers captain Brett Maher led the way with 28 points in a repeat of the form which saw him awarded the Larry Sengstock Medal as Grand Final MVP in last year's matchup.
Charles Thomas scored an equal game-high 30 points with the Razorbacks Willie Farley.
The Razorbacks jumped out to an early lead thanks to some sharp-shooting from outside, hitting six from ten three-point attempts in the first quarter.
The Razorbacks continued the onslaught in the second stanza, opening with 11 unanswered points to take the lead to 40-28. But a timeout to the Sixers saw them claw their way back thanks largely to import Charles Thomas, who hit 13 points and dished out four assists in the second term.
And when Martin Cattalini drove to the basket in the dying seconds of the half, the Sixers had snatched the lead 56-55 for the first time in the match.
A huge Cattalini dunk off a Jason Williams steal punctuated a tense third term where the lead swung several times, the Sixers holding on 85-84 going into the final break.
Down 95-96 midway through the last quarter, the Sixers grafted a five point lead as forward Mark Nash lifted the intensity grabbing 5 boards and scoring 5 points down the stretch.
Leading 107-98 with 3:40 on the clock, the Razorbacks had one last roll of the dice, pulling the lead back to two with only 33.7 seconds left.
But the Sixers played it out from the free throw line for a narrow victory.
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