NBL1 West Recap | Men's Saturday Round 17

It was quite the dramatic Saturday night in the NBL1 West with the Geraldton Buccaneers and Rockingham Flames consolidating top two spots while the Cockburn Cougars and Mandurah Magic sent a message with impressive wins over teams above them.

Round 17 in the NBL1 West Men's competition began on Friday night with the Joondalup Wolves beating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 88-63 and the Perry Lakes Hawks needing double overtime to overcome the Lakeside Lightning 104-100.

Then on Saturday night, the Geraldton Buccaneers kept their hold on top spot with one round remaining by beating the Warwick Senators at home 89-74.

Mathiang Muo drained eight three-pointers for 24 points for the Buccs while Shaun Stewart produced another 21 points, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals.

Kyle Zunic top-scored for the Senators with 16 points, six rebounds and three assists.

The Mandurah Magic found some ominous form ahead of the playoffs by beating the Joondalup Wolves 97-85 at home on Saturday night.

Dequan Abrom delivered 26 points for the Magic, Jay Bowie 24, Ray Turner 24 and Kyle Armour 11 points to go with 10 assists. Jonathan Wade had another 21 points and 13 rebounds for the Wolves.

The South West Slammers and East Perth Eagles put on quite the show at Eaton Recreation Centre with the game going to overtime, and it was there the Slammers put up 19 points in five minutes to win 109-95.

Buay Tuach set the stage with three massive dunks in the first quarter for the Slammers on his way to 35 points with Caleb Van De Griend adding another 13 points and 18 rebounds.

Lee Roberts finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists for East Perth.

The Lakeside Lightning took part in yet another thriller this NBL1 West season and again were on the wrong end with the Willetton Tigers beating them 93-89.

Damien Scott top-scored for Willetton with 21 points while Tom Gerovich added 12 points, 12 rebounds and four assists.

Landon Taliaferro hit 3/5 from downtown for 15 points for Lakeside while captain Nick Palleschi picked up from the night before with 22 points and five assists.

Some stars might have been missing including Marshall Nelson, Greg Hire and Zac Gattorna, but for three quarters the Perth Redbacks took it right up to the Rockingham Flames, but the home team proved too strong to end up winning 117-90.

Devondrick Walker had another 29 points on 7/11 shooting from downtown for Rockingham while Tom Jervis delivered a triple-double made up of 12 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists.

Jerami Grace scored 21 points for the Redbacks, Louis Timms 20, Tevin Jackson 20 and Ben Smith 17 on 5/6 shooting from beyond the arc.

The battle for a top four spot then took place in Kalgoorlie with the Cockburn Cougars beating the Goldfields Giants 90-80.

Despite the absence of Gavin Field, the Cougars moved into the top four on the back of 24 points from Luke Phillips and 23 from Josh Hunt.

Gairges Daow top-scored for the Giants with 18 points with Mayo Malek adding 15 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocked shots.

NBL1 WEST – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 17 – SATURDAY NIGHT

GERALDTON BUCCANEERS 89 defeated WARWICK SENATORS 74

The Geraldton Buccaneers maintained their hold on top spot in the NBL1 West with a 15-point win against the Warwick Senators at home on Saturday night.

The Buccs were back home at Active West Stadium and took another step towards securing the regular season championship by proving too strong for a Senators team struggling for momentum heading towards the finals.

Geraldton started strongly with 26 points to 17 in the opening quarter before pushing their lead out to 14 in the second quarter and being on top 46-35 by half-time.

The Senators threatened a couple of times to make a comeback including going on an 8-0 run in the third term, but it wasn’t to be as they continue to miss Cody Ellis and Corban Wroe.

Geraldton got back in control with 27 points to 18 in the fourth quarter to end up winning 89-74 and improve to 18-3 on the season to remain in top spot.

They will claim the regular season championship with a win next Saturday away to the East Perth Eagles, but will likely still take it out no matter the result. 

The Senators have now lost four of their past five matches to slip to a 13-8 record to have all but fallen out of top four contention with a game to finish against the Perth Redbacks on Friday.

Mathiang Muo nailed eight of his 10 three-point attempts for the Buccaneers on his way to 24 points while Shaun Stewart contributed 21 points, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals, Cameron Coleman 16 points and five boards, and Malik Meunier eight points and eight rebounds.

Bryan Michaels scored 16 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals for Warwick and he could still be a difference maker if he's up and firing come playoff time.

Kyle Zunic added 16 points, six rebounds and three assists for the Senators, Caleb Davis 13 points, Ash Litterick 11 points and five rebounds, George Pearl eight points and nine rebounds, and Majok Majok six points and four boards.

 

MANDURAH MAGIC 97 defeated JOONDALUP WOLVES 85

The Mandurah Magic's rollercoaster season continued on Saturday night with them delivering a terrific performance to beat the Joondalup Wolves by 12 points.

The Wolfpack arrived at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre having beaten the Kalamunda Eastern Suns the previous night at home while the Magic were coming off a loss to the Goldfields Giants, and having lost two of their last three.

Both teams were locked into the playoffs, though, and it loomed as a fascinating contest with the Wolves opening up a 24-21 lead by quarter-time.

Mandurah turned the tide with a 14-0 scoring streak during the second quarter to open up a 14-point lead and that saw the home team leading by 48-42 at the half-time break even with head coach Jamie O'Loughlin at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

The Magic kept the momentum rolling with another 26 points to 16 in the third quarter, and then they completed the job for the 97-85 victory.

The win improves the Magic to a 12-9 record on the season with a game to finish against the South West Slammers on Friday. The Wolfpack slips to 15-6 ahead of finishing against the East Perth Eagles.

The big guns of Mandurah all stepped up with Dequan Abrom delivering 26 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals, Jay Bowie 24 points and five boards, Ray Turner 24 points and 10 rebounds, and Kyle Armour 11 points and 10 assists.

Jonathan Wade delivered 21 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and four steals for Joondalup with Julian Pesava contributing 19 points, three boards and three assists, CJ Turnage 17 points, nine rebounds and three assists, and Joel Vaiangina 10 points.

 

SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 109 defeated EAST PERTH EAGLES 95

The South West Slammers and East Perth Eagles might have only combined for six wins in 2022 coming into Saturday night, but they delivered an exciting evening of entertainment at Eaton Recreation Centre.

With the Slammers having won just twice in 2022 and the Eagles four times, there weren’t any high expectations heading into their Round 17 match up, but anybody watching sure wasn’t disappointed.

The tone was set early with Slammers import Buay Tuach delivering three of the most spectacular dunks of the season all in the first quarter alone, but the Eagles were doing well up the other end meaning South West just led 27-26 by the end of one.

The Eagles were able to work their way on top by completing a 16-0 run in the second period to lead by as much as 10, and to still be on top 49-43 at half-time.

East Perth's lead grew to 17 points during the third quarter and was still as much as 13 in the fourth, but the Slammers weren’t going to go down without quite the fight.

It was quite the remarkable finish as the Slammers were still down 10 before a Cory Richardson layup, Tuach jumper and Richardson three-point bomb had them back within three in no time.

Eventually three free-throws to Tuach sent the game into overtime and in the extra period the Slammers were just unstoppable. The home team were inspired to outscore the Eagles 19 points to five in the extra five minutes to win 109-95.

Buay Tuach is in quite the spectacular run of form to close the season for South West and he put up 35 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists on shooting 14/22 from the field.

Cory Richardson added 15 points, seven assists, four steals and four rebounds, Tanner Vogel 14 points and six rebounds, and Caleb Van De Griend kept his momentum rolling with 13 points and 18 boards.

Cody Hill added 11 points, four assists, three steals and two rebounds while Brody England contributed 10 points and two boards.

Lee Roberts finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and four assists for East Perth with Justin King adding 16 points, nine boards and seven assists, Sergio Soarez 14 points and four rebounds, and Nic Filpo 14 points.

 

LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 89 lost to WILLETTON TIGERS 93

The Lakeside Lightning and Willetton Tigers might not be taking part in the playoffs for 2022, but that didn’t stop them putting on quite the show at Lakeside Recreation Centre on Saturday night.

It's unusual to see the Lightning and Tigers not in the playoff hunt in the 2022 NBL1 West season after both teams have been regularly featured at the top of the table in recent years, but there was still plenty of pride at stake on Saturday.

Lakeside was fresh off a heartbreaking double overtime loss the previous night to the Perry Lakes Hawks while the Tigers came into the game on a five-game losing streak.

Willetton raced out to an 11-point lead in the opening term but Lakeside hit back with 10 consecutive points to cut the deficit to one by quarter-time.

The Tigers then opened up another handy lead during the second quarter by scoring 13 consecutive points to be up by 10 again, and they still were on top 50-42 at the main break.

The Tigers pushed their lead out further in the third quarter to lead by as much as 19 points, and while the Lightning threw everything at a big comeback, Willetton held them out for the 93-89 victory.

It's a seventh win of the season for Willetton to snap a five-game losing streak while Lakeside slips to 4-17 with the two tough losses this weekend.

Damien Scott top-scored for Willetton with 21 points in the 303rd game of his career with Travis Fee adding 18 points with shooting 3/4 from long-range.

Tom Gerovich contributed 12 points, 12 rebounds and four assists for the Tigers, Lachie Evans 11 points, Michael Collins 10 points and four blocked shots, and Hunter Clarke six points, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks.

Captain Nick Palleschi came up huge on Friday for Lakeside in the double overtime clash with Perry Lakes and he could very well have played the best of his 177-game career on Saturday with 22 points and five assists.

Justin Bennett added 19 points and three assists for Lakeside while hitting all five three-point attempts with Landon Taliaferro contributing 15 points, Ben Lee nine and Josh Davey pulling down another 15 rebounds.

 

ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 117 defeated PERTH REDBACKS 90

The Rockingham Flames continued to show why they are going to be mighty tough to stop in the race for this year's championship with a 27-point win over the Perth Redbacks on Friday night.

The Flames were back home at Mike Barnett Sports Complex on a five-game winning streak in second position in the NBL1 West, and while they were still without Marshall Nelson and Greg Hire, they did welcome back 181-game gun Justin Beard.

The Redbacks are locked in a battle over eighth spot with the Perry Lakes Hawks and were dealt a blow with the loss of Zac Gattorna for the Saturday night clash.

However, they did welcome back captain Joel Wagner with the club games record holder and league's all-time assists leader playing his first game since July 1.

It was an especially high-quality affair for the first half with the Tom Jervis-Louis Timms battle inside especially enticing while Devondrick Walker was lighting it up for the Flames like only he can.

Rockingham worked their way to a seven-point lead by quarter-time before extending that advantage to as much as 15 points during the second term, and still leading 60-47 by the half-time break.

The longer the game went the more the Flames were able to assert their dominance with the lead growing to 23 points in the third quarter, and 31 in the fourth before they claimed the 117-90 victory to secure the Anthony Exeter Cup.

It was a seventh consecutive victory for the Flames to improve last year's Grand Finalists to 17-4 on the season before finishing the regular season away to the Lakeside Lightning on Friday.

The Redbacks are now 10-10 to be just behind the 11-10 Hawks in the race for the last available position in the playoffs. Perth now has two games in the last round away to the Warwick Senators on Friday and at home to the Goldfields Giants on Saturday – both cemented in the top eight.

It was a top quality performance from Rockingham as they shot at 55.9 per cent from the floor while drilling 22/41 from downtown at 53.7 pe cent. The Redbacks went at 38.8 per cent form the field while hitting 14/37 from long-range.

Devondrick Walker strengthened his push for the MVP award with another 29 points and five assists for Rockingham while shooting 11/16 from the floor and 7/11 from deep.

Ryan Godfrey added 22 points and five rebounds for the Flames, Justin Beard 19 points on 6/8 shooting from beyond the arc, and Callum Beard 13 points, three rebounds and two assists.

Travis Durnin also had 12 points and five rebounds, and Tom Jervis a terrific triple-double consisting of 12 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists.

Jerami Grace top-scored for the Redbacks with 21 points to go with four assists while Louis Timms contributed 20 points and 10 rebounds, Tevin Jackson 20 points and eight boards, and Ben Smith 17 points and eight rebounds while connecting on 5/6 from three-point territory.

 

GOLDFIELDS GIANTS 72 lost to COCKBURN COUGARS 78

Despite a bus malfunction on the trip to Kalgoorlie on Saturday and the absence of Gavin Field, the Cockburn Cougars moved into the NBL1 West's top four with a six-point win over the Goldfields Giants.

Fourth place went on the line at Niels Hansen Basketball Stadium on Saturday night with the Giants at home to the Cougars in what always loomed as a fascinating contest.

Both teams were missing a key player with the Giants without Jesse Ghee for a fourth straight game with the Cougars also missing superstar captain Field, but it didn’t detract from a terrific contest.

The Giants were leading 28-22 by quarter-time but the Cougars put together a run of 10 straight points in the second term to turn that deficit into a five-point lead, and then it was Goldfields still clinging to a 46-45 edge at the long break.

The Cougars took back over in the third quarter with a 14-0 run to take a 12-point lead and that proved the decisive move of the match as they held out the Giants down the stretch to win 90-80.

The win improves the Cougars to a 14-7 record on the season having won four straight to be in the top four before finishing the season now on Friday night at home to the out of contention Willetton Tigers.

The Giants remain a chance still of moving back into the top four at 14-7 by finishing the season away to the Perth Redbacks on Saturday.

It was two players who are in career-best form who led the way for Cockburn in the win with Luke Phillips putting up 24 points, seven rebounds and two assists with Josh Hunt also producing 23 points and four boards.

Seva Chan used all his 263 games of experience for the Cougars to run the team tremendously with 10 assists to go with six points and four rebounds while Carter Skaggs added 11 points and six boards, and Paschal Chukwu 10 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots..

Gairges Daow top-scored for Goldfields with 18 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals with Hussayn Ford contributing 16 points and nine boards, and Mayo Malek 15 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks.

Lafonzo Smith also had 11 points and eight rebounds for the Giants, and Hamish Cummings 11 points on 3/6 shooting from long-range.