JUNIOR Levi has lead the Netblacks to an important 11-goal win over City Heat in Wednesday night’s M-League Men’s Premier Division to ensure the side kept touch with the undefeated St Therese. Though the side’s opening round clash had been close, it was the Netblacks who got off to a strong start, and managed to hold that advantage throughout the game to win the first three quarters and salute, 52-41.

The Netblacks raced away to a 6-1 lead in the opening term off the back off Levi’s reliability under the post, and Jake Schuster‘s work up the other end. The home team was forcing regular turnovers, and City Heat could not manage multiple possessions when they did force one of their own. Though they were able to reduce the deficit down to as little as three in the first term, once it got back out to five at quarter time, it was a hard lead to cut into.

Despite the Heat’s bests efforts, with Alastair Punshon doing well in goal shooter, and the defensive pairing of Simon Cartwright and Thomas Gilberto trying to limit Levi’s influence. In the end, the perfect lobbing passes from the likes of Deepak Patu, Kai Suzuki-McGauran and Cameron Powell put it on a silver platter for the far taller Levi, who made the most of his opportunities. Across the first three quarters, Levi scored a whopping 42 of his side’s 46 goals.

Though the Heat broke even in the last, it would not be enough, with Punshon finishing with a respectable 26 goals on the night. Nathan Selvidge also impressed for the Netblacks in goal defence, up against Ben Gosbell who scored 11 goals in the first half, before being replaced by Jake Noonan who switched from wing attack to goal attack and scored four goals. The final score read 52-41, with Levi’s high-volume scoring the difference.

The major upset of Round 8 was DDNA’s two-goal win over Seahawks. The latter went into the match as strong favourites sitting second on the ladder, but DDNA was able to match it with them for three quarters, and both teams were all square throughout. Then an 11 goals to nine final quarter proved the difference, with DDNA coming away with the 48-46 victory. Ethan Spiteri was sensational throughout the match, whilst Tim Malmo and Sam MacKerras were also among the better players despite being on the losing side.

In the other match, there was no such upset with top of the table St Therese bulldozing past Sirens in a 38-goal victory. A 30 goals to six first term all but put the result in the books, as Sam Bury nailed 16 goals and Guy Keane finished with 14. By the end of the match, they had 44 and 33 respectively, but it was the midcourt work of Riley Richardson and goalkeeper Jake Hederics who caught the eye. For Sirens, Josh Smith had an impact when changing from wing attack to goal attack, scoring 15 goals in the last three quarters.

M-LEAGUE MEN’S PREMIER DIVISION ROUND 8 RESULTS:

Netbblacks (52) defeated City Heat (41)
St Therese (77) defeated Sirens (39)
DDNA (48) defeated Seahawks (46)