THE Moss Vale Magic was soundly defeated by the Penrith Panthers on Saturday night.

The Magic fell 97-40 in its round eight clash in the NSW Waratah youth league division one competition at the Penrith Valley Regional Sports Stadium.

Moss Vale hoped to build on its strong performances last weekend, when the side recorded a win and loss in its road trip against Newcastle and Maitland.

The Magic put in a strong first quarter performance to only trail 18-14 at the first break on Saturday.

However, the visitors were never in the hunt from then on as the Panthers took control of the match to lead 44-16 at half time.

The Magic was unable to disrupt the Panthers' offence in the second half.

Despite putting on some good plays, the Magic never got into any sort of flow or rhythm on offence.

The Magic was without regular starters Rhys Pryor and Connor Wroe.

Without their size and rebounding skills, the Magic struggled to match the Panthers on the boards and was out rebounded at both ends of the floor by their opponents.

Penrith was simply too big and too strong in this area of the game.

For the Magic, Justin Sloggett never stopped trying and was rewarded for his efforts by finishing the game as the top scorer for the Magic with 11 points.

Young gun Zac Ottosson showed that he has the ability to play at this level with some nice touches and a huge block.

Ottosson was the next best scorer for the Magic with seven points.

Moss Vale coach Kev Campbell was philosophical after the match and the Magic's performance was an "aberration".

"At this level, you only have to be off your game by 10 per cent and you will pay the penalty with this type of score line," he said.

"That is something that we have to realise and work on improving in the coming weeks.

"We need to consistently put together four quarters of our best basketball and we will be in the mix in most of the games."

Campbell said he was confident the Magic would learn from this match and turn things around.

The Magic will tackle a tricky double this weekend, with away matches against the two top teams.

The side will face the Central Coast Crusaders at Gosford on Saturday and the Sydney Comets at Alexandria on Sunday.

The Magic will return to Moss Vale to take on the Sutherland Sharks on May 15.