Moss Vale Magic 53

Griffith Demons 92

Shoalhaven Tigers 41

THE Griffith Demons have all but sewn up their third consecutive State League basketball finals appearance after collecting two wins on the road against Moss Vale and Shoalhaven on the weekend.

Going into the double-header minus several injured starting players, the Demons showed their fighting spirit to bounce back from a rusty performance against the Magic to thrash a below-par Tigers outfit.

"We're exactly where we want to be now," Demons captain-coach Andrew Cullen said. "If we win the next double-header against Wagga and Shoalhaven then we will be guaranteed a place in the finals but we're looking pretty good at the moment."

In what should have been a repeat performance of their last clash against Moss Vale, the usually on-target Demons side just couldn't get their shooting game together to put any comfortable distance between them and the opposition.

"It was hard having two guys out and we were shooting poorly from the field. It was probably our lowest scoring game for the year," Cullen said.

With both teams chasing the lead, the last few minutes saw the pressure on both sides taken to new heights as every possession became vital.

"It was a pretty physical game, we were lucky to come out of it without any injuries," Cullen said. "But the last few minutes were vital as we were down by six."

But back-to-back Griffith three-pointers combined with poor free-throw shooting from the Magic gave the visitors the small but important buffer they needed to win the first leg of their road-trip.

The Demons barely had time to register the win before they were facing their second game of the weekend against Shoalhaven.

But the game could not have been more different than the previous day's clash with the untiring Griffith side running out to a 12-point lead minutes after the first buzzer.

"When we came out we didn't muck around," Cullen said.

The Tigers saw the game getting away from them and dug their claws in, managing to fight back to bring their score within eight points of the Demons dominant lead just before the end of the first quarter.

But Shoalhaven just couldn't keep up with the classy Griffith side who soon pulled away to a 27-point lead and the game was all but over.