Eagles fly to summit as Power blow fuse

TITLE contenders Eagles embarrassed flagging Palmerston by 24 points on Friday night en route to snatching top spot from Ansett.

Donna Hurst’s Darwin League Men basketball side made a mockery of last year’s champions, blowing them out 95-71 in a scoreline that remarkably flattered the Power.

Palmerston missed only exEagle Jarrod Sheppard from their first-choice line-up.

The Eagles led by a matchhigh 32 points inside the last nine minutes before taking their foot off the pedal.

They won the second and third quarters by a combined 22 points, with all seven members playing a role after soaring to a 17-6 advantage.

Import guard Alex Fertig shook tight-checking defender Caleb Pannell to score a match-best 28 points and heighten his bid to be named the competition’s most-valuable player.

Joe Johnson had 20, but picked up his second technical foul in as many contests and will miss next week’s match against Razzle.

The reinvigorated Jesse Williams-Hook, thriving with the extra playing time since Reece Turner moved to Adelaide, chipped in 12 and the impressive Jordan Sing had 15.

“I had to sit both Chris (Stewart) and ‘JJ’ for basically half of that second quarter and they still kind of progressed,” Hurst said.

“The good thing with playing with six or seven players at the moment is it seems they’re all gluing together and playing as a team.”

Making matters worse for the Power was Tom Godwin’s ejection midway through the fourth quarter for his thoughtless shove that flattened Lachie Shipway.

It was Godwin’s second ejection in three games in what was his first appearance in a month.

Coach Lance Godwin’s son has had an underwhelming season, going from the team’s clear-cut No.3 offensive option to a bit-part player.

Godwin’s shove was not the only Palmerston-related madness, with Mattison Devine giving up a silly foul for a thirdquarter push on Johnson.

The Power may have to win all of their final four matches, including a Round 21 battle with second-placed Ansett, to overhaul Lightning for fourth spot.

The only positive for Palmerston was their teenagers – Jai Weetra (13), Fisto Bizma (11) and Jamie Thorne – who performed well with extra court time.

Austin Kisselev (38) and Craig Martin (25) inspired Lightning to a 93-67 win over TV Jets in the Thursday night fixture.

* Results from yesterday’s games will be in tomorrow’s