South started with a bang and finished with a flourish to record a 134-114 victory over the North in an entertaining NBL All-Star game at Adelaide Arena on Saturday.
After Melbourne star Jonny Flynn provided the foundation, fellow Tiger Chris Goulding applied the finishing touches to be crowned MVP.
The athletic Goulding had 14 fourth-quarter points to finish with a game-high 24, along with five boards and four assists to cap a memorable day for Melbourne with Bennie Lewis winning the slam dunk contest.
Adelaide hometown favourite Daniel Johnson (21 points) and Tigers import Seth Scott (19) routinely got on the end of the superb work of Flynn (seven points, 10 assists) and New Zealand Breaker Cedric Jackson (12 points, 10 assists).
North's brave charge was led by Sydney import Darnell Lazare (18 points, 11 rebounds) and Wollongong pair Adris Deleon (18 points, nine assists) and Lance Hurdle (18 points).
South made a barnstorming start, leading 38-13 at the end of lop-side opening term.
Melbourne's ex-NBA guard Flynn wowed the crowd with some dazzling ball-handling skills, at one stage bringing the ball all the way down the floor with nothing but between-the-legs crossovers.
He had five assists for the term, including sensational alley-oop lobs to Jackson and Johnson to lead South's sizzling transition game.
Jackson had a crack at turning crowd-pleaser in the second period but narrowly missed two audacious windmill alley-oops from his own lob passes.
North fought back through the exploits of Deleon, who had 10 points at 100 per cent shooting and four assists for the term, but Flynn had the final say of the half.
Isolated one-on-one against Townsville's Gary Ervin, Flynn faked a pass before drilling a second-chance buzzer-beating trey to make it 69-51 at the main interval.
Ervin caught fire in the third stanza with eight points at 100 per cent to slice the gap back to 82-79, and then Deleon continued the charge with five quickfire points of his own.
Three-point shoot-out winner Stephen Weigh duly responded with back-to-back triples to keep the South clear 96-84 three quarter-time advantage.
Ervin again in the fourth but the Southerners continued to draw further clear with Scott, Jackson and Johnson prolific and Goulding filling up with a couple of stirring double-handed jams.
The thrill-a-minute contest ended with Deleon alley-oop passes to Hurdle and Lazare, but the day would belong to the South.
AAP
Tags: nbl, basketball, sport, adelaide-5000, sa, australia First posted December 22, 2012 17:34:33
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