West Recap | Round 7 Thursday

Image credit: @hyperfocusimages | Michael Bailey

The deep Mandurah Magic women had a big home Thursday night NBL1 West win while Caleb Davis and CJ Turnage starred as Joondalup Wolves men got a measure of revenge for last year's preliminary final.

WEST RECAP | ROUND 6 SATURDAY

WOMEN

Mandurah Magic (106) defeated Joondalup Wolves (73)

The Mandurah Magic put together another dominant performance with seven players scoring in double-figures as they denied the Joondalup Wolves a third successive win with the 106-73 Thursday night home win.

The Magic bounced back from a tight loss to the second placed Warwick Senators by heading to Kalgoorlie last Saturday night and coming away with the 25-point win over a Goldfields Giants team fresh off beating the Rockingham Flames by 54 points.

The Wolves also arrived at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre for the Thursday night match up fresh off their first two wins of the season last weekend at home to the Willetton Tigers and then on the road to the South West Slammers.

Both teams came into the match up in winning form and each played well in the first quarter with the Magic on top narrowly 27-24 by quarter-time.

Mandurah then added another 27 points in the second quarter on the back of shooting 10/19 from the floor and 4/8 from downtown while holding Joondalup to just 16 points on 5/20 shooting.

That meant the Magic went into the half-time break having opened up a 54-40 lead and then the home pulled away even further in the third frame with another 34 points to 20.

They continued to shoot at an impressive clip going 13/20 from the field with the lead getting out to as much as 33 points in the final term before Mandurah went on to score the 33-point victory.

The Magic finished the night on their home floor shooting at 50 per cent from the field opposed to 35 from the Wolves along with forcing Joondalup into 20 turnovers from which they scored 11 points from.

It was the range of contributors that Mandurah had in the win that was their great strength with seven players all scoring between 10 and 23 points.

That included Claire Jacobs top-scoring with 23 points to go with five rebounds on shooting 8/14 from the field, 3/6 from three-point territory and 4/4 at the foul line.

Grace Berg continued her strong form too with 15 points and five assists while 389-game veteran Rachel Halleen delivered 15 points and three steals, Tiana Palmer 11 points, three rebounds and two assists, and Jade Gowland 11 points, seven boards and four assists.

McKenna Dale was back in the Mandurah line-up having missed the past two games for 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists while the legendary league's games record holder Casey Mihovilovich had another 10 points, three assists, three steals and two rebounds in just 18 minutes.

The Wolfpack couldn’t quite back up their double-win weekend from Round 6 to slip to a 2-6 with the loss without another game now until next Friday at home to the Perth Redbacks.

New import Maddie Sutton continued her strong start five games into her first NBL1 West season with another 16 points, 10 rebounds and two steals with Stefanie Berberabe adding 16 points, six assists, four steals and three boards.

Jorjah Smith also had 15 points and four rebounds on 5/9 three-point shooting, Ella Thornton-Elliott eight points, and Laniesha Paddon seven points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots.

MANDURAH MAGIC 106 (Jacobs 23, Berg 15, Halleen 15)

JOONDALUP WOLVES 73 (Sutton 16, Berberabe 16, Smith 15)

MEN

Mandurah Magic (80) lost to Joondalup Wolves (104)

The two teams were doing battle for the first time since last year's amazing overtime preliminary final and with Caleb Davis on fire from downtown and CJ Turnage continuing his brilliant form, the Joondalup Wolves beat the Mandurah Magic 104-80.

It was the Magic that pulled off the stunning overtime win at Arena Joondalup last year in the preliminary final to eliminate the Wolves and then go on to secure their maiden championship a week later at RAC Arena.

Then coming into their Thursday night match up at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre, the Magic were looking to back up their big win in Kalgoorlie over the Goldfields Giants last week while the Wolves split their Round 6 double with a loss to Willetton but win over the South West Slammers.

The Wolfpack did come into the game without backcourt pair Ethan Elliott and Damon Ballantyne, but they were quickly out of the blocks and opened up a 17-point lead already in the opening quarter.

Caleb Davis caught fire early too from behind the arc and as a team the Wolves shot 4/9 to the 0/8 from the Magic on the way to the 29-13 advantage by quarter-time.

The Wolfpack were feeling good with new import Adili Kuerban taking on a lot of the ball handling duties in the absence of Elliott and Ballantyne, and they continued to build on that lead with another 30 points to 25 in the second term.

Joondalup went into half-time leading 59-38 thanks to shooting 23/39 from the field and 9/16 from deep opposed to 12/36 from Mandurah and 2/13 from three.

That trend continued in the third term and it was another four threes to one from the Wolves in the third quarter as the lead got out to 28 points.

The Wolves went on with the job from there for the eventual 24-point win to improve to a 6-3 record on the season while now not playing again until next Friday night at home to the Perth Redbacks.

It was a hot shooting night from Joondalup who finished up going 51 per cent from the field and making 16/34 from three at 47 per cent while the Magic only shot 36 per cent and went 6/26 from deep. But Mandurah did go 20/27 at the foul line to 10/12.

Caleb Davis just fell short of equalling his career-best seven three-pointers made in his 177-game career. His 6/8 was his best shooting output since joining the Wolves last year on his way to 20 points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals.

CJ Turnage could well be having his best NBL1 West season having put up another 25 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and two steals on 11/21 shooting from the floor and 2/4 from deep.

Joey Baker added 20 points, five rebounds and three assists, new import guard Adili Kuerban 16 points and two boards, and Gabe Chadinha 10 points, four rebounds and four assists.

The defending champion Magic are now 5-3 on the season and have a fascinating match up with the East Perth Eagles at Morley on Saturday who now have added Jonah Antonio into their line-up.

Mandurah big man Sammie Freeman did what he could to keep his team in the contest with 26 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots.

Jahcoree Ealy also had 18 points and four assists but the two men who have been brilliant all season so far for the Magic, Julian Pesava (nine points, six rebounds, three assists on 3/12 shooting) and Lachlan Bertram (11 points, five rebounds, five assists, four steals on 4/14 shooting), had tough nights.

MANDURAH MAGIC 80 (Freeman 26, Ealy 18, Bertram 11)

JOONDALUP WOLVES 104 (Turnage 25, Davis 20, Baker 20)