Varsity emerged victor in its first game of the men’s club basketball season.

It ran away to a 93-64 win over the Magic Lions at the Edgar Centre on Saturday.

Varsity started strong, captain Micah Lepaio scoring nine points in the first quarter, and with help from Hale Nepia-Sua with five and Samuel Seelen with six, it finished the quarter leading 24-8.

Coming into the second quarter the Lions’ young side knew they had to step up, otherwise the game could slip too far beyond them.

They won the second quarter by one point, and brought the deficit to 15.

In the third quarter Lepaio continued to shoot well, as well as finding it easy to produce buckets from inside.

However, Andrew Armstrong continued to battle against Varsity’s bigger and stronger guards.

He supplied a solid 7 points in that quarter to try to keep his side in the game. But Varsity still finished the quarter leading 67-46.

It then dominated the fourth quarter and continued to extend its comfortable lead over the Lions.

Working well together as unit, Varsity scored 26 points in the quarter and conceded 18, going on to win the game 93-64.

Throughout the game the Varsity side had strength over the Lions inside.

That led to its dominance in the game, making it a very physical encounter which the Lions struggled to bounce back in.

Lepaio led the three-point shooting, hitting 4.

The top scorers were Lepaio with 24 points and Armstrong with 13.

In the other two clashes of the opening round, Mid City Magic played City Rise Bombers, Magic claiming a comfortable win that finished at 98-67.

Magic’s dominant duo Josh Aitcheson and Darcy Knox both top-scored for the side, finishing with 20 points each.

Steve Robinson continued to show his scoring ability and top scored for the Bombers with 22, while James Collins was close behind on 19.

Meanwhile, the St Kilda Saints beat the Andy Bay Falcons in a nail-biting first game that ended at 92-86.

Falcons captain Matt Stevenson came out strong with 19 points in the first quarter, and top scored with 42 for his side.

Falcons newcomer Logan Dicker also put on a good show throughout the battle, finishing the game with 22 points.

However, James Ross continued to be a dominant force in the league, leading his side with 28 points.

Discipline decided the game, as 15 of Saints’ 92 points came from the free-throw line, nine of them in last five minutes when the sides were within five points of each other.

Story: Otago Daily Times

All other grade results can be found at www.otago.basketball/competitions/ or download the GameDay app from the Google & Apple app stores.