NBL1 West Recap | Sunday Men's Round 13

The Perry Lakes Hawks closed Round 13 in the Men's Division of NBL1 West with a commanding win at home against the Geraldton Buccaneers to give them six straight victories to sit on top of the standings as a result.

Round 13 in the NBL1 West Men's Division began back on Friday night with the Mandurah Magic beating the South West Slammers 85-69, the Perth Redbacks defeating the Joondalup Wolves 98-81, the Warwick Senators downing the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 91-81 and the Willetton winning 95-90 over the Rockingham Flames.

There were then six matches that took place on Saturday night with 12 of the 14 teams in action including the Perth Redbacks continuing their winning ways beating the Willetton Tigers 84-61 with the Perry Lakes Hawks beating the East Perth Eagles 112-53.

The Mandurah Magic kept their winning form going by beating the Joondalup Wolves 90-81 with the Rockingham Flames defeating the Geraldton Buccaneers 91-73 and the Lakeside Lightning went to Kalgoorlie and came back with the 85-64 win against the Goldfields Giants.

Last up on Saturday night saw the Cockburn Cougars make it consecutive wins by defeating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 101-71 at Wally Hagan Stadium.

That all led into the lone game on Sunday afternoon and it just happened to feature the teams that won the last two SBL championships, the Perry Lakes Hawks and Geraldton Buccaneers.

The Hawks proved too strong beating a Buccs team without Mat Wundenberg and Aaron Ralph 118-67 at Bendat Basketball Centre with the result sending them to the top of the ladder at the end of Round 13.

NBL1 WEST – 2021 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 13 – SUNDAY

PERRY LAKES HAWKS 118 defeated GERALDTON BUCCANEERS 67

The Perry Lakes Hawks simply proved to be too big, too powerful and too deep for the Geraldton Buccaneers at Bendat Basketball Centre on Sunday.

The fixture was the last of Round 13 in the NBL1 West Men's Division and it featured the last two SBL championship winners with the Hawks claiming the title back in 2018 and the Buccaneers in 2019 – both beating the Joondalup Wolves in Grand Finals.

But plenty has changed at both clubs since those triumphs and coming into Sunday's clash, Perry Lakes was on a five-game winning streak including a thumping 59-point win on the road to the East Perth Eagles on Saturday night.

Geraldton, meanwhile, suffered a fourth straight defeat to open their double-header on the road on Saturday with an 18-point loss at the hands of the Rockingham Flames.

You then take out the almost 900 games of experience from Mat Wundenberg and Aaron Ralph for Geraldton and being competitive against such a strong Perry Lakes team was going to be tough.

Neither was available for Sunday's game after it was a massive previous night for inspirational Buccs captain Wundenberg who celebrated his 450th game. It continues a remarkable career for the big man who has been one of West Australian basketball's great warriors this century.

Not only has he now amassed 450 games with the Buccaneers, but he captained them to the championship in 2019, sits fourth all-time in rebounds collected and has been one of most admired and respected players his whole career.

Winning that championship two years was the icing on the cake for his glittering career, but he has continued to have that desire to get out on the floor and fight hard and make sure the Buccaneers can still be competitive, and his size and presence remains important.

That was especially the case on Sunday up against a Perry Lakes team featuring Andrew Ferguson so he was sorely missed as was his partner in crime Ralph as the Hawks pulled away early to lead 27-15 by quarter-time.

Perry Lakes then really blew the game open with another 34 points to 13 in the second quarter and the result was pretty much beyond doubt by half-time with the Hawks in control against the Buccaneers up 61-28.

The Hawks weren’t in the mood for any let up in the second half either. They scored another 33 points to 21 in the third quarter, and then 24 to 18 in the fourth to end up winning 118-67.

That gave Perry Lakes quite the remarkably dominant weekend winning their two games against East Perth and Geraldton by a combined 110 points, with the final score of the two games 230-120.

Matthew Leary backed up his career-best night against his former club the previous night by delivering another 26 points, two assists and two steals for Perry Lakes while nailing a phenomenal 8/9 from three-point territory.

Andrew Ferguson was a strong presence with 25 points and eight rebounds while Rob Cassir had 11 points, three assists and three steals, Ryan Smith 11 points, five boards and three assists, Cooper Hamilton 11 points and four assists, and Mitch Clarke 11 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Mathiang Muo ended up top-scoring for a Buccs team that was missing their other 400-game legend Aaron Ralph. Muo finished with 16 points, six rebounds and three assists while hitting 4/6 from three-point range.

Taine Wattie added 13 points for Geraldton, Harry Evans seven points, Will Galvin six points and eight rebounds, Dylan Myers six points, six rebounds and six assists, and Geordie Murray six points.