NBL1 West Recap | Men's Saturday Round 15

The South West Slammers scored their second win of the season on the buzzer, the Joondalup Wolves knocked off the Warwick Senators and the Goldfields Giants, Cockburn Cougars and Mandurah Magic all scored critical NBL1 West Men's wins on Saturday night.

Round 15 in the NBL1 West began on Friday night with the Perth Redbacks beating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 85-82 while the Rockingham Flames downed the Mandurah Magic 101-82.

The Saturday evening action got underway with the Mandurah Magic bouncing back from losing the previous night to beat the East Perth Eagles 84-66.

Jay Bowie put up 28 points and 12 rebounds with Dequan Abrom adding 24 points and 11 boards. Lee Roberts produced 15 points and eight rebounds.

Two top four teams locked horns at Warwick Stadium but the Warwick Senators were minus Bryan Michaels, Corban Wroe and Cody Ellis and the Joondalup Wolves came away with the crucial 89-78 victory.

CJ Turnage put up 27 points and nine rebounds for the Wolfpack, and Jonathan Wade 24 points and five boards. Majok Majok delivered 25 points and 10 rebounds for the Senators while his Perth Wildcats teammate Kyle Zunic added 18 points.

The Goldfields Giants kept themselves right in the hunt for a top four finish in 2022 by beating the Willetton Tigers in Kalgoorlie on Saturday night, 81-70.

Gairges Daow delivered 21 points and five rebounds for Goldfields, and Lafonzo Smith 19 points and 16 boards. Damien Scott top-scored for Willetton with 24 points and six rebounds.

They might be out of playoff contention but it didn’t stop the Lakeside Lightning and South West Slammers putting on quite the show at Lakeside Recreation Centre.

The Slammers had a hot start chasing their second win of the season but then Justin Bennett caught fire in the third quarter to shoot the Lightning into the league.

The game was still set for a grandstand finish and in the end it was a huge triple for the Slammers from Buay Tuach that was the late decisive blow in the 98-97 victory.

Tuach had 21 points for the Slammers but it was Caleb Van De Griend who had a career-best night with 30 points and 13 rebounds. Landon Taliaferro top-scored for Lakeside with 25 points.

The Kalamunda Eastern Suns pushed the Perth Redbacks to the brink on Friday night and 24 hours later produced perhaps their best first half of the season to open up a 17-point lead over the Cockburn Cougars.

However, Cockburn worked their way back into the contest led by Carter Skaggs in the second half and ended up being able to overrun the Eastern Suns for the 94-88 victory.

Skaggs top-scored for Cockburn with 20 points on 6/12 shooting from downtown with Gavin Field adding 18 points and Seva Chan 13 along with six assists. Brendan Dinardo finished with 21 points for the Eastern Suns and Albert Almanza 18.

NBL1 WEST – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 15 – SATURDAY NIGHT

EAST PERTH EAGLES 66 lost to MANDURAH MAGIC 84

The Mandurah Magic bounced back from a disappointing Friday night loss for an important 18-point road win against the East Perth Eagles on Saturday.

The Magic went down at home to the Rockingham Flames by 19 points on Friday night so they had to bounce back against the Eagles at Herb Graham Recreation Centre on Saturday.

However, East Perth came into the game in their best patch of form of the season having wo three in-a-row after losing 13 of 14 matches this season prior to that.

It's no surprise those wins have coincided with Lee Roberts, Shaquille Maharaj and Sergio Soarez joining Justin King in the line-up so the Eagles certainly weren’t going to be handing anything to the Magic on Saturday night.

Mandurah came out strongly, though, to open up a double-digit first quarter lead and to still be on top 29-19 by quarter-time.

The Magic then pushed that lead out to 13 during the second quarter and were still on top 44-37 by half-time.

Mandurah gradually pulled away further throughout the second half building a 10-point lead by three quarter-time and then 18 by the final buzzer as they recorded the 84-66 victory.

The win improves the Magic to an 11-8 record on the season while the Eagles are now 4-14 with their losing run coming to an end.

Even though East Perth pulled down 24 offensive rebounds to 14 for the game, and forced Mandurah into 22 turnovers which helped them take 16 extra field goals, the Eagles just didn’t shoot the ball too well.

The Magic ended up going 46.3 per cent from the field opposed to 30.1 per cent from the Eagles which was the major difference between the two teams.

Jay Bowie stood tall impressively for the Magic using all his 161 games of experience in the league for 28 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Dequan Abrom added 24 points and 11 rebounds, Kyle Armour eight points, two assists and two steals, and Ray Turner eight points, seven rebounds, three blocks, two steals and two assists.

Lee Roberts top-scored for East Perth with 15 points and eight rebounds with Justin King adding 14 points, eight boards and three assists, Sergio Soarez 10 points and eight rebounds, Elijah Pawson 10 points and three steals, and Nic Filpo 10 points, eight assists, five rebounds and three steals.

 

KALAMUNDA EASTERN SUNS 88 lost to COCKBURN COUGARS 94

For the second time in Round 15 of the NBL1 West, the Kalamunda Eastern Suns played some of their best basketball of the 2022 season but couldn’t quite get the win, this time against the Cockburn Cougars.

The Eastern Suns did plenty right on Friday night to open Round 15 against the Perth Redbacks before losing by three points ahead of hosting the Cougars at Ray Owen Sports Centre on Saturday night.

Kalamunda and came out impressively going on an 8-0 run to lead by as much as six points to end up leading 31-28 by quarter-time.

The Eastern Suns then really fired in the second quarter scoring 10 straight points to open up a 17-point lead to end up outscoring the Cougars 25 points to 12 to end up leading 56-40 by half-time.

However, the Cougars had too much to play for and too much quality not to stage a fightback in the second half. Cockburn did pull the deficit back to eight by three quarter-time before continuing on with that momentum in the fourth quarter.

The Cougars put together 10 straight points to grab the lead before eventually a trademark three ball from captain Gavin Field put them up 88-84 with two and-a-half minutes remaining.

The Eastern Suns stayed in touch but Field hit two more clutch free-throws to keep the Cougars up four and the Suns couldn’t quite get that big shot to fall and Carter Skaggs iced the 94-88 win at the foul line.

The victory improves the Cougars to an 11-7 record on the season to further consolidate their position in the top eight and remain an outside top four shot. 

It was a sixth straight loss for Kalamunda to see them slip to 3-16 despite the improved pair of Round 15 performances.

Carter Skaggs finished with 20 points and six rebounds for Cockburn while knocking down 6/12 from three-point range.

Gavin Field added 18 points, four rebounds and two assists, Seva Chan 13 points and six assists, Paschal Chukwu 11 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots, Josh Hunt 10 points and three assists, and Nathan Pond nine points and seven rebounds.

Brendan Dinardo top-scored for Kalamunda with 21 points and three rebounds while hitting 5/10 from deep. Albert Almanza added 18 points and four boards, Rob Huntington 15 points and seven rebounds, and Xavier Shaw 10 points, 10 rebounds and three assists.

 

GOLDFIELDS GIANTS 81 defeated WILLETTON TIGERS 70

The Goldfields Giants kept themselves in touch for a top for a NBL1 West top four position with an 11-point win at home against the Willetton Tigers on Saturday night.

The Giants played host to the Tigers at Niels Hansen Basketball Stadium on Saturday night with Goldfields needing the win to strengthen their top four hopes, and it was just about the last chance saloon for the playoff aspirations of Willetton.

On their home floor, Goldfields started strongly to quickly open up a double-figure advantage and to be on top 29-21 by quarter-time.

The Giants threatened to run right away with it early in the second term going up 13, but then the Tigers did well to fire back by scoring 12 consecutive points and that saw them head into the half-time break leading 42-39.

The Giants began to work their way back on top in the third quarter by outscoring the Tigers 24 points to 18, and then they consolidated that into a strong last term with 18 points to 10.

That saw Goldfields claim the 81-70 victory to improve to a 13-5 record on the season having now won five consecutive matches. Willetton has lost four straight to be all but out of the finals hunt at 6-13.

Gairges Daow finished the night with 21 points and five rebounds for the Giants with Lafonzo Smith contributing 19 points and 16 rebounds, Mayo Malek 13 points, six boards and three blocked shots, and Marshal Destremau nine points and three rebounds.

Damien Scott top-scored for Willetton in his 303rd appearance with 24 points and six assists on 10/18 shooting.

Connor Mincherton showed how much he's been missed for much of this season with 19 points and four assists with Michael Vigor adding six points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

 

LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 97 lost to SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 98

They might be anchored to bottom four positions but that didn’t stop the Lakeside Lightning and South West Slammers putting on quite the spectacle at Lakeside Recreation Centre on Saturday night.

While both teams will be disappointed to not be fighting for finals spots still with a month to go in the season, that didn’t stop them delivering a terrific contest as part of Round 15 in the NBL1 West.

The Slammers were chasing their second win of the season and started impressively to lead by as much as seven in the first term and to still be up 22-19 by quarter-time.

South West then blew the game open early in the second term to lead by as much as 14 points, but then the Lightning staged a fightback to be back within nine at half-time.

It was then Justin Bennett who lit it up in the third quarter for Lakeside including knocking down four three-pointers which helped the home team put up 34 points to 16. They hit 14 consecutive points and ended up leading by nine.

The Slammers fired themselves back into the contest, though, and when Cory Richardson drilled a three ball, they were back in front with three minutes to play.

Bennett immediately replied with another three of his own and still with time running out the Lightning were clinging to a two-point advantage. 

The Slammers called for a timeout to draw up one last play and the ball went to Buay Tuach. He took the three ball and it never looked like missing.

That gave South West the lead and they withstood a couple of frantic late attempts from Lakeside to win 98-97 and get their second win of 2022.

The Slammers were without new import Raphell Thomas-Edwards with that experiment only lasting five games but they looked better for it with Buay Tuach and Caleb Van De Griend both outstanding.

As well as hitting the game winner, Tuach delivered 21 points and five rebounds with Van De Griend having the night of his 37-game career with 30 points and 13 rebounds on 13/18 shooting.

Tanner Vogel added 10 points, five rebounds, three steals and two blocks, and Cody Hill 10 points, four assists and three rebounds.

Landon Taliaferro finished with 25 points and three rebounds for Lakeside with Dom Jackson contributing 22 points and five boards, Justin Bennett 20 points on shooting 6/9 from downtown.

 

WARWICK SENATORS 78 lost to JOONDALUP WOLVES 89

The Joondalup Wolves were able to take advantage of the shorthanded Warwick Senators for a crucial 11-point victory at Warwick Stadium on Saturday night.

It loomed as a crucial match up to the top four chances of both teams with the Senators coming into the game in fourth spot at 12-5 while the Wolves were third at 13-4.

However, the job for Warwick became all that tougher with the absence of Cody Ellis, Bryan Michaels and Corban Wroe, and the experience, poise and all-round talents and quality of Ellis in particular was felt the longer the game went.

Despite that, the Senators still led by a point at quarter-time but then CJ Turnage in particular began to take over and the Wolves put together 13 straight points during the second quarter.

That helped the visitors outscore the Senators 33 points to 18 in the term to go into the half-time break leading 52-38.

The Wolves were then never seriously threatened throughout the second half leading by as much as 16 points again in the third term before ending up winning 89-78.

The win consolidates the Wolfpack in third spot with a 14-4 record while the Senators now slip to 12-6 having lost three of their previous four.

CJ Turnage had a tremendous night for Joondalup on his first visit to Warwick Stadium delivering 27 points, nine rebounds and three assists.

Jonathan Wade was impressive too with 24 points and five rebounds with Joel Vaiangina contributing 13 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots.

Julian Pesava also finished with eight points, nine rebounds and four assists, and Jordan Wellsteed seven points, four boards and two assists.

Majok Majok was playing his third game of the season for the Senators and the Perth Wildcats NBL big man delivered 25 points and 10 rebounds on 9/11 shooting in 21 minutes of court time.

Kyle Zunic added 18 points and three assists for Warwick, Caleb Davis 12 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, and Ash Litterick nine points and five boards.