NBL1 West Recap | Saturday Men's Round 4

Zac Gattorna and Oliver Hayes-Brown were among the NBL players in action in Saturday night's NBL1 West Men's action which saw wins for the Mandurah Magic, Willetton Tigers, Geraldton Buccaneers, Goldfields Giants, Perth Redbacks and Perry Lakes Hawks.

Round 4 in the NBL1 West Men's competition began on Friday night with a huge 110-77 win for the Warwick Senators over the previously unbeaten Joondalup Wolves at HBF Arena.

Then on Saturday night, things got underway with the Mandurah Magic defeating the East Perth Eagles 91-65 at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre. Ray Turner had 20 points and 14 rebounds for Mandurah while Justin King top-scored with 17 points for East Perth.

The Willetton Tigers made it consecutive wins with a 108-93 victory against the South West Slammers at Willetton Basketball Stadium. Damien Scott had 30 points with Oliver Hayes-Brown putting up 21 points and 16 rebounds while Buay Tuach delivered 32 points for South West.

The Geraldton Buccaneers remained undefeated and handed the Cockburn Cougars their first loss of the 2022 season with an 88-82 win on Saturday night at Active West Stadium. Shaun Stewart had 30 points for the Buccs and Josh Hunt 15 points for the Gavin Field-less Cougars.

The Goldfields Giants also returned home and beat the Rockingham Flames 88-82 at Niels Hansen Basketball Stadium. Gairges Daow put up 29 points for Goldfields with Marshall Nelson delivering 21 points for the Flames.

The Perth Redbacks welcomed back Zac Gattorna from his NBL season at the Adelaide 36ers and he helped them to the 85-77 win over the Lakeside Lightning at Lakeside Recreation Centre. 

Gattorna had 18 points and Jerami Grace 21 for the Redback with Sebit Reath putting up 26 points and 14 rebounds for the Lightning.

The final game of the night saw the Perry Lakes Hawks defeat the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 93-71 at Ray Owen Sports Centre. Andrew Ferguson had 21 points and 14 rebounds for the Hawks with Rob Huntington delivering 20 points for the still winless Suns.

NBL1 WEST – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 4 – SATURDAY NIGHT

MANDURAH MAGIC 91 defeated EAST PERTH EAGLES 65

The Mandurah Magic might have had a little bit of a slow start to the 2022 season but they continued to build some nice momentum at home on Saturday night to the East Perth Eagles.

It's a season of high expectations for Mandurah but they did start off with losses to the Geraldton Buccaneers and Rockingham Flames, but coming into Saturday night they had bounced back with wins against the Lakeside Lightning and Perth Redbacks.

The Magic then hosted the winless Eagles at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre and the home team got off to a flying start with 30 points to 16 in the first quarter.

Mandurah then turned that into a 53-35 lead at half-time before the Magic also outscored East Perth 38 points to 30 in the second half on the way to the eventual 91-65 victory.

Ray Turner delivered 20 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots for the Magic on shooting an efficient 9/12 from the field.

Dequan Abrom also put up a performance made up of 17 points, six rebounds and three assists, Christian Jurlina 15 points and three boards, Riley Parker 14 points, seven steals, five assists and three rebounds, and Kyle Armour 12 points, seven boards and three assists.

Justin King top-scored for East Perth with 17 points and four rebounds while Mateo Campbell contributed 14 points and seven boards, Elijah Pawson nine points, and Logan Thwaites eight points.

 

WILLETTON TIGERS 108 defeated SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 93

The Willetton Tigers made it consecutive wins this NBL1 West Men's season by defeating the South West Slammers on Saturday night.

The Tigers had the services of both Michael Vigor and Damien Scott for the first time this season on ANZAC Day, and they scored their first win of 2022 as a result over the Kalamunda Eastern Suns.

They then also welcomed Perth Wildcats development player Oliver Hayes-Brown as they hosted the winless Slammers at Willetton Basketball Stadium on Saturday night.

The Tigers opened up a 30-24 advantage by quarter-time before putting up another 29 points to 18 in the second quarter to end up leading 59-42 at the half-time interval.

It was a tight second half but the Tigers were able to come away with the 108-93 victory on their home floor.

It was an impressive shooting performance from the Tigers who went 53.1 per cent from the floor and 42.9 per cent from three-point territory with the Slammers going 44.7 per cent from the field, and 28.6 per cent from beyond the arc.

Damien Scott put up 30 points, three rebounds and three assists in his second appearance of the season for Willetton while Oliver Hayes-Brown marked his debut with 21 points, 16 rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Michael Vigor added 14 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists, Travis Fee 11 points and four boards, and Dylan Hampson 10 points and three rebounds.

Buay Tuach put together a tremendous performance for the Slammers made up of 32 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and six steals on 14/22 shooting.

Brody England added 16 points and five rebounds, Caleb Van De Griend 15 points and 13 boards, Cody Hill 12 points, three assists and three steals, Cory Richardson six points and four rebounds.

 

GERALDTON BUCCANEERS 81 defeated COCKBURN COUGARS 70

It was the battle of undefeated teams at Active West Stadium on Saturday night with the Geraldton Buccaneers hosting the Cockburn Cougars.

The Buccs had opened the new NBL1 West season with wins against the South West Slammers by 32 points, Mandurah Magic by nine, Willetton Tigers by 33 and the Lakeside Lightning by 26.

Meanwhile, the Cougars had also started impressively beating the East Perth Eagles by 44 points, Willetton Tigers by eight, Slammers by 23 and then in overtime the Goldfields Giants by four.

That set the stage for a fascinating home opener in 2022 for Geraldton and it was Cockburn away from home and missing Gavin Field who started well to lead 21-14 by quarter-time.

The Cougars then moved further ahead in the second period with 24 points to 16 and that saw them leading 45-30 at half-time to appear on track to continue their undefeated start to the season.

However, Geraldton came out a different unit defensively in the second half and would hold the Cougars to just 14 points in the third quarter and three in the fourth.

The Buccs were then able to overrun Cockburn to claim the 81-70 and remain undefeated while handing the Cougars their first defeat of 2022.

Shaun Stewart was once again a powerful force for the Buccaneers with 30 points, seven rebounds and four steals with Malik Meunier contributed 16 points, nine boards and four assists.

Cameron Coleman added 12 points, six rebounds, five steals and three assists, Liam Hunt eight points and five rebounds, and Mathiang Muo eight points.

Josh Hunt top-scored for Cockburn with 15 points and six rebounds with Carter Skaggs adding 14 points and 12 boards, Seva Chan 11 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, Hayden Bell 10 points, and Paschal Chukwu nine points and 11 rebounds.

 

GOLDFIELDS GIANTS 88 defeated ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 82

The Goldfields Giants and Rockingham Flames have both made impressive starts to the NBL1 West season setting the floor for a fascinating Saturday night battle in Kalgoorlie.

The Giants had won their first three games of the season before losing in overtime last Sunday to the Cockburn Cougars while the Flames had also won their first three matches entering Saturday's contest at Niels Hansen Basketball Stadium.

Rockingham regained Ryan Godfrey and Greg Hire from last week's win over the Lakeside Lightning but were without Devondrick Walker, and still missing Tom Jervis and Justin Beard, and the Giants were able to open up a 27-20 advantage by quarter-time.

However, the Flames turned the tide completely in the second quarter putting up 25 points to 12 to head into the half-time break leading 45-39.

The Giants were the ones to turn things back around in the third period with 23 points to 14, and that was enough to set up the eventual 88-82 victory for the home team.

Gairges Daow delivered a season best performance for a Goldfields team who were without Jesse Ghee who had just put up 31 points the previous Sunday against Cockburn. Daow stepped up for 29 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals on 11/18 shooting.

Damon Ballantyne added 19 points and six rebounds, Hamish Cummings 11 points and three boards, Hussayn Ford 10 points and 12 rebounds, and Mayo Malek eight points, 12 boards, three assists and two blocked shots.

Marshall Nelson top-scored for Rockingham with 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists with Travis Durnin putting up 16 points and seven boards.

Greg Hire added 12 points, 14 rebounds and three assists for the Flames while Callum Beard contributed 11 points and seven boards, and Ryan Godfrey eight points and seven assists.

 

LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 77 lost to PERTH REDBACKS 85

The Perth Redbacks had to do it tough but they got the win they were after against the Lakeside Lightning at Lakeside Recreation on Saturday night.

The Lightning were back on their home floor still hunting a first win of the season under the coaching of the experienced Dave Lindstrom while the Redbacks welcomed back Zac Gattorna from the Adelaide 36ers as they looked to build some momentum this season.

Perth started on fire producing a first quarter made up of 29 points to 14 but the Lightning continued to stay in touch by outscoring the Redbacks over the next two quarters 46 points to 36.

The Redbacks were able to finish strongly enough, though, with 20 points to 17 in the fourth stanza to win 85-77 and improve to 3-2 on the season while it was a fifth consecutive loss for the Lightning.

Lakeside was able to collect 13 more rebounds than Perth and take an extra 10 field goals as a result, but the Redbacks shot 44.0 per cent from the floor opposed to 36.5 per cent by Lakeside.

Jerami Grace top-scored for the Redbacks with 21 points and four assists while knocking down 5/7 from three-point territory.

Zac Gattorna marked his return from his season in the NBL in Adelaide with 18 points, five rebounds and three steals with Tevin Jackson contributing 11 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, Louis Timms 10 points and five boards, and Ben Smith eight points and five rebounds.

Sebit Reath produced 26 points and 14 rebounds for Lakeside, Josh Davey 13 points and 16 rebounds, Justin Bennett 13 points and three boards, and Liam Patterson six points and four rebounds.

 

KALAMUNDA EASTERN SUNS 71 lost to PERRY LAKES HAWKS 93

The defending champion Perry Lakes Hawks made the trip up the hill to hand the Kalamunda Eastern Suns a fifth straight loss to start the NBL1 West season.

It was also the renewal of the rivalry of head coaches Ben Ettridge and Matt Parsons who had gone toe to toe in both Grand Finals of 2016 and 2018.

Parsons remains at the helm of Perry Lakes as he chases back-to-back championships in 2022 while Ettridge has taken over the helm of the Eastern Suns this season and has his former Wolfpack star veterans Rob Huntington, Reece Maxwell and Seb Salinas alongside.

Kalamunda was still chasing its first win of the new season but Perry Lakes weren’t in a giving mood, opening up a 23-10 advantage by quarter-time. It was another 28 points to 21 from the Hawks in the second quarter to see them lead 51-31 at half-time.

Perry Lakes closed the deal in the second half with another 42 points to 40 to end up winning 93-71 to improve to 3-1 on the season while the Eastern Suns are 0-5.

In the end, the major difference was Perry Lakes shooting 50.0 per cent from the field at 37/74 while the Eastern Suns put up 27/70 at 38.6 per cent.

Andrew Ferguson top-scored for the Hawks with 21 points and 14 rebounds on 10/18 shooting with Lewis Thomas contributing 12 points and three boards, and Adrian Nobensi 12 points and three assists.

Adam Thoseby added 11 points and four assists for Perry Lakes, Matt Leary 11 points, two assists and two steals, and Bailey Cole 10 points and three rebounds.

Rob Huntington delivered 20 points and six rebounds for the Eastern Suns with Albert Almanza adding 11 points and three assists, Cooper Lowe eight points and five rebounds, Henry Alforque seven points and two assists, and Xavier Shaw seven points, five boards and two steals.