Saints to play Magic in final after resounding wins

THE two powerhouses will enter the Dunedin premier men’s final off the back of dominant displays.

For the fifth time in seven years, the St Kilda Saints will meet the Mid City Magic in the final.

The Magic has won the past five titles, although it is the Saints who will enter this one unbeaten.

They capped an impressive regular season with a 11867 win over the Magic Lions in the final day of the top four round robin on Saturday.

Both teams were missing key players to the Otago under23 team, although the Saints adapted better.

Tyler Lapham hit six threepointers to topscore with 29 points, while James Ross and Lawson MorrisWhyte had 25 and 23 each in an utterly dominant display.

The Saints led 214 early on, Lapham’s ability to hit from deep doing damage early.

That effectively stamped out any hope the Lions had of sneaking into the final — needing to win by 26 or more to leap ahead of the Saints.

They shot out to a 329 lead at the end of the first quarter, before continuing to pile on the points to lead 6125 at halftime.

Big man Max Pearce was the only Lions player to offer any real threat, finishing with 30 points.

The Magic won twice in three days to secure a spot in the final.

It trailed midway through the second quarter, but a strong finish helped it pull away to a 9768 win over the Lions in Thursday’s deferred game.

Josh Reeves topscored with 28 points, while NBL duo Richie Rodger and Josh Aitcheson were influential with 17 and 14 points respectively.

The Magic followed up with a similarly dominant 11873 win over the City Rise Bombers.

Reeves hit 11 triples on the way to notching a 41point display, while Rodger was classy in pouring in 31, showing his continued progress after a strong season with the Taranaki Airs.

Much like the Saints’ dominant start, the Magic tore away early, leading 3716 at the end of the first quarter and 6132 at halftime before wrapping up its spot in the final.

Nuggets guard Matthew Bardsley led the Bombers with 18 points, while fellow Nugget Robbie Coman added 15.

The Saints and the Magic advance to the final as the top twoplaced teams under the league’s new format this year.

That was triggered by St Kilda entering a second team into A grade, making for a seventeam grade.

The traditional format of three full rounds followed by playoffs was replaced with two full rounds followed by a top four and bottom three round robin.

The Saints finished top of the top four with an unbeaten record, while the Magic won two of its three games to claim the second spot.

In the bottom three, the St Kilda Bullets have one more week to claim their first win, after being beaten 7471 by Varsity.