A flying finish from the Lions has completed a dominant regular season for Mid City.
The club claimed the top two spots on the table, as the men’s club basketball regular season drew to a close on Saturday.
The defending champions, Magic, finished top with a 12-3 record, taking a 104-69 rout of Varsity into next week’s semifinals.
They are followed by their second team, the Lions, who beat the third-placed St Kilda Saints 76-65 to claim second on the table, with a 10-5 record.
It is an impressive showing from the club. They combined for a 22-8 record and, while the Magic result is not out of the ordinary, the Lions have performed well above preseason predictions.
However, while they will enter as the higher seeds, both face tough paths to next week’s final.
The Magic will face the fourth-placed City Rise Bombers, while the Lions have a rematch against the Saints in this coming Saturday’s semifinals.
It is the Lions who will take form into that rematch, although it can sometimes be difficult to read too much into the final round of the regular season.
Lachie Cameron had 21 points, while Noah McDowell added 17, as they rallied late in the third quarter to pull away from a tough Saints team.
It had been a tight game until that point. Matt Pyper (15 points) and James Ross (14 points) kept the score ticking over for the Saints through the first half, and left them 36-36 at halftime.
They were key in a run just after halftime, too, taking the Saints out to a 42-36 lead.
It was a lead the Saints held through the first five minutes of the quarter. However, their offence flatlined through for the next five minutes and the Lions pounced.
Cameron hit a three-pointer, before Christopher Christof finished to tie the score.
Ross responded with a triple, at which point the Lions took over and surged ahead.
They led 58-51 at the end of third quarter, pulling out to 74-58 at one point, although the Saints line-ups had a distinctly understrength look through those stages.
Meanwhile, in the Magic’s 104-69 win over Varsity, Jamal Todd posted the highest individual score since Benoit Hayman’s 55 points against Varsity in 2018.
Todd dropped 51 as the Magic cruised through a final tune-up before the playoffs.
There they will face a very strong fourth seed in the Bombers, who are hitting form and have their Otago Nuggets back.
They come off a 128-46 win over the Andy Bay Falcons, Nuggets duo Matthew Bardsley and Robbie Coman finishing with 34 and 26 points respectively.
