The Mid City Magic’s backcourt has given another show of its class in a dominant outing.
Mitchell Hughan and Dallas Hartmann combined for 66 points, as they breezed past the Andy Bay Falcons 114-84 in Dunedin men’s club basketball on Saturday.
The win takes the Magic to a 10-1 record, leaving them a win away from securing a top-of-the-table finish with four games remaining.
It also snapped a two-match win streak for the Falcons, who had found form in recent weeks after a rough start.
However, it was not the ability to score points that hurt the Falcons — that has not been their problem all year.
It was their inability to stop the Magic scoring, as has been an issue for them. Over the season’s 11 games, they have conceded 190 points more than the next-worst defence.
And so it proved, as the Magic shredded the Falcons’ 2-3 zone, their guard duo to the fore.
Hughan had 38 points, hitting seven three-pointers in an impressive show of his range.
He was not only hitting them from beyond the arc — they were coming from deep, on one occasion pulling up 2m behind the line and seamlessly draining the shot.
Hartmann had 28 of his own, doing his damage attacking the hoop and using his strength to finish past the defence.
And it was that duo that helped them to a 33-17 quarter-time lead.
Toby Lewis offered some resistance for the Falcons, posting a chunk of his 30 points in that first quarter.
However, with the score at 20-15, the Magic went on a 16-2 run, blowing the game open and essentially putting it to bed.
The Falcons hung tough to keep it at 62-49 at halftime.
But it was all they could do.
They got as close as 11 in the third quarter, before a flurry from Hughan and Brent Cheshire opened the gap back to 88-65 going into the final quarter.
That lead grew to 30 through the fourth quarter, Hughan and Hartmann piling on the points for a dominant Magic win.
In the day’s other game, Olly Smith had 24 points as the City Rise Bombers beat the Mid City Lions 76-64.
The win gives the Bombers a 3-0 sweep against the Lions this season, lifting the Bombers to a 6-5 record and drawing them level with the Lions in a tie for third.
The St Kilda Saints jumped to 7-4 in second place, having been defaulted to by Varsity.
The league now takes a two-week break, before the final four weeks followed by playoffs.
