A team-high 23 points to Simon Conn at the weekend has helped the Sandringham Sabres set up their third straight showdown with the Dandenong Rangers in the BigV Championship series.

Led by Conn (23 points, five rebounds, two assists), the Sabres edged out a five-point win over the Waverley Falcons on Saturday night to enter title contention for a third consecutive year.

In a hotly contested clash, Conn and the Sabres raced out of the blocks to establish a five-point lead by the first break. With Conn on fire from the field, the Falcons were hit hard by the absence of big man Matt Burston, who sat out the qualifying showdown to injury.

The 115-110 win sees the Sabres into a grand final match-up with arch-rivals Dandenong, who downed Hume City by 29 points for their chance to claim back-to-back BigV titles.

The Rangers led by just two points at the first break, but shot out to an 11-point lead in the second term to show why they remain Championship favourites.

Crazy John’s South Dragons star Brent Hobba was kept to just nine points and seven boards for the night by a targeted Broncos’ attack, but with the visitors giving away 47 free throws to the Rangers’ 11, the Broncos were in strife and eventually went down 94-65.

The weekend’s results set up what is sure to be a massive grand final series between the reigning champions and the 2005 premiers, with all eyes now firmly set on claiming the ultimate prize.

While Simon Conn enters the Championship round in top form for the Sabres, the bayside outfit will be without mid-season recruit Joe Ingles, who tonight lines up for the first game of the Boomers’ 18-day tour of Europe.

The Boomers will tonight meet Austria in the first of eight games before the squad returns to home shores for the FIBA Oceania qualifying series against New Zealand in August.