ALTHOUGH it was not quite the result his Norwood Flames were looking for in their Round 4 clash against the Forestville Eagles in the National Basketball League (NBL)1 Central Men’s, youngster Alex Dodson caught the eye.

Dodson has already firmed himself as one of South Australia’s most exciting prospects, and represented both his state and country in 2023. At just 17 years of age, he is barely scratching the surface of his capabilities, but is still putting together some impressive performances against experienced talent. He is an athletic rebounding forward who can stretch the floor and has excellent defensive traits, making him one to watch for the future.

Dodson is also a multi-sport athlete, having represented his state in football as well, but chose to pursue basketball.

Dodson’s Flames came up against the Eagles at State Basketball Centre (Wayville) on Saturday night, and were looking to break their two-game losing streak. However, Norwood was blown out of the water with a 38-16 opening term, and struggled to recover from there, and although trailing by just eight points at the final change, ended up losing by 20 points.

The biggest positive of the night was undoubtedly the performance of Dodson, who came off the bench to provide a spark and show that the future is bright for South Australian basketball.

Alex Dodson

18 points, four rebounds, one assist

It is fair to say that Norwood’s starters struggled in the opening quarter, leaving the team searching for answers and a reliable avenue to scoring.

Dodson entered the game late in the first quarter, but did not last long, picking up two quick fouls and heading back to the bench after some inexperienced defensive strategies. He returned late in the second period, and made an immediate impact with a tip-in to keep his side in the game, but picked up his third foul shortly after.

However, the coaches opted to keep him in, and he rewarded that faith, with a nice feed and a lay-up of his own on the eve of half time, giving his team a much-needed lift heading into the main break.

Once again, the power forward was injected into the game in the final minutes of the third quarter, but made every post a winner in that time. During the last minutes of the period, Dodson knocked down a pair of triples, and brought his side within five points with a lay-up with 20 seconds to go, showing how quickly he can turn a game with his scoring.

The 17-year-old picked up where he left off in the fourth quarter, knocking down a turnaround jumpshot for the first score of the term to cut the margin back once again. Dodson reduced the deficit to just four points with a cutting lay-up, but the Eagles found their groove to push ahead once again.

However, he looked to create scoring opportunities, but was subbed out halfway through the period for the team’s experienced heads, and although he came back in, his momentum was gutted and he could not make much more of an impact.

He finished the game shooting 8/10 from the field and 2/3 from behind the arc, but the most impressive facet of his performance was the fact that he did it all in just 11:48 minutes of court time for an explosive performance.