South Dragons stars Joe Ingles and Simon Conn yesterday posted an emphatic win over the Melbourne Tigers in Round 9 of BigV competition to launch what the pair hopes will be a triumphant year against their cross-town foes.

The Dragons duo led the Sandringham Sabres to a 20-point win over the under-manned Tigers, who went into the clash without many of their NBL regulars.

The win followed the Sabres’ 24-point win over Werribee the night before.

On the other side of town, Matt Burston made an impressive comeback for the Waverley Falcons in his team’s 95-83 win over Diamond Valley on Saturday night.

In his first real hit-out since ankle surgery in March, Burston made an impact in the Falcons’ 12-point win. But the team’s luck ran out on Sunday, when the Falcons went down by four points to the lower-placed Ringwood Hawks.

Also in action at the weekend was Brent Hobba, whose Dandenong Rangers continued their winning ways with a resounding 40-point win over Latrobe City.

One week past the halfway mark of the season, the South Dragons are well placed on the BigV Championship ladder.

Hobba’s Rangers (10-1) lead the charge in second, the Sabres (9-2) sit third and the Waverley Falcons (6-6) are in fifth.

In SEABL action, Shannon Seebohm posted two hard-fought wins over much-fancied opposition to round out weekend competition.

Seebohm’s AIS scored an upset win over the Canberra Gunners on Thursday night before overcoming the Southern Districts Spartans by just two points on Saturday.

Also in action in the SEABL was Matt Shanahan, whose run of bad luck continues with the Ballarat Miners.

The Miners journeyed south this weekend to take on Tasmania’s finest, but went down by seven points to Hobart on Friday and 18 points to North West Tasmania the next day.

While the AIS (10-7) are well up the top of the SEABL table in fifth, the Miners sit in 14th place with just two wins for the year.

In the New Zealand NBL, Luke Martin posted 14 points, two boards, four assists in the Waikato Pistons’ 83-71 defeat of Auckland on Saturday night.

To round out the weekend’s on-court action, fellow South Dragons recruit Nick Horvath managed 18 points, seven rebounds, three assists in the Wellington Saints’ 17-point win over the Harbour Heat.

With the start of the South Dragons’ pre-season now just six weeks away, the action is sure to continue to heat up.