Eagles Recap | Round 13 Men

Image credit: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)

It was a familiar script in Round 13 of the NBL1 West season for the East Perth Eagles men with an impressive home win on the Friday night and then a tough loss south of the river on Saturday.

The Eagles were fresh off a Round 12 double-header where they beat the Perth Redbacks at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre on Friday night before losing to the Cockburn Cougars on Saturday.

The fixture was similar in Round 13 and it started with East Perth beating the Perry Lakes Hawks 101-77 on Peter Campbell Basketball Arena before then a third straight Saturday night loss south of the river when the Lakeside Lightning prevailed 99-93 at Lakeside Recreation Centre.

The results leave the Eagles with a 7-9 record in ninth position ahead of a trip to Kalgoorlie to play the Goldfields Giants who are in sixth position at 8-8.

FRIDAY

It had season-defining game written all over it when the Eagles hosted the Perry Lakes Hawks at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre on Friday night and East Perth produced a tremendous performance for the 101-77 victory.

It always loomed as a crucial game at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre for both teams as they attempted to try and break into the top eight with both coming into the match up with 6-8 records.

The Eagles did beat the Perth Redbacks also on their home floor by 28 points last Friday night but then couldn’t back it up with a 15-point loss while conceding 122 points on Saturday to the Cockburn Cougars.

It was Perry Lakes who got the better of the start racing out to an early 10-point lead thanks to a 9-0 scoring run, but the Eagles soon hit back with 12 straight points themselves including three-pointers to Max Rice and Nick Filpo.

That saw the Eagles lead 28-22 having early being down 10 and they went on with the job in the second term even while only shooting 1/6 from three-point range.

East Perth still outscored Perry Lakes 25 points to 21 in the second term to go into half-time leading 53-43 having got up nine extra shot attempts.

It was another 27 points to 17 in the third frame from the Eagles thanks to going 5/9 from three-point range to open up a 26-point advantage.

That lead got out to 28 points in the last quarter too for East Perth before securing the 24-point win thanks to shooting 55 per cent from the field with 11/27 from downtown opposed to the 40 per cent from the Hawks who went 10/28 from deep.

The win improves the Eagles to a 7-8 record to close in on a top eight spot and they did it without back court pair Jonah Antonio and Matthew Lang.

Chier Maker top-scored for the Eagles with 21 points, four assists and three rebounds on 9/13 field goal shooting along with 3/6 from behind the three-point arc.

Lee Roberts also had 20 points, four rebounds and three assists on 10/12 shooting while Max Rice contributed 20 points, nine boards and five assists, Nick Filpo 14 points, four rebounds and four assists, and Sharif Watson 13 points, seven boards and two assists.

Ioannis Dimakopoulos added eight points, four rebounds and three assists, Marley Newell three points and a rebound, and Anthony Filpo two points in his first game of 2025.

SATURDAY

The chance was there for the Eagles to finish the round inside the top eight but they weren’t quite able to turn around their fortunes on Saturday's south of the river with the Lakeside Lightning beating them 99-93.

The Eagles lost a thriller two weeks ago on Saturday away to the Willetton Tigers, then last week had a disappointing showing to give up 122 to the Cockburn Cougars on the back of an impressive home win on the Friday night against the Perth Redbacks.

It was a similar scenario this time around for East Perth with the 24-point win at home to the Perry Lakes Hawks on Friday ahead of taking on the Lightning at Lakeside Recreation Centre on Saturday.

It was a Lightning team out of the playoff hunt too at 4-11 so it presented a chance to the Eagles to consolidate the top eight position they moved into with their win on Friday.

The Lightning came out feeling good about themselves putting up 36 points in the first quarter while shooting 14/24 from the floor including 4/11 from downtown to lead by as much as 12.

Lakeside were still up 36-28 by the end of one but the Eagles responded knowing it was a crucial game in the context of their season to briefly grab the lead before the scores were all level at 53-53 by half-time.

East Perth did work on top in the third quarter with 23 points to 13 thanks to shooting 9/18 from the floor to the 5/20 from the Lightning as they ended up leading by as much 13 points.

The Eagles couldn’t quite put the Lightning away, though, and the home team fired back in the last quarter with 33 points to 17 thanks to hitting 4/7 from beyond the arc and also 13/16 at the foul line.

It's a third straight disappointing Saturday night result south of the river for East Perth who are 7-9 on the season as a result having played a second game this weekend without back court pair Matthew Lang and Jonah Antonio.

Captain Lee Roberts put up 31 points, 11 rebounds and six assists on 12/20 shooting for the Eagles with Chier Maker contributing 17 points and five boards, Sharif Watson 13 points, eight rebounds and three steals, Max Rice 12 points, six assists and four boards, and Ioannis Dimakopoulos 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Nick Filpo also had seven points and four assists for the Eagles with Lieb Yat finishing with two points and four rebounds, and Kai Kabugua three assists and two boards.