The Rockingham Flames threw everything at their crack at making history but it was the Perry Lakes Hawks who capped off a standout NBL1 West season by ultimately overpowering them to win Saturday night's Grand Final, 92-82.
A sold out crowd of well over 2000 people filled Bendat Basketball Centre for the inaugural Grand Final of the NBL1 West men's competition with two fitting combatants – the powerful, consistent and successful Perry Lakes Hawks and the history-making Rockingham Flames in their first ever decider.
For a lot of the game it looked as though Perry Lakes had the edge on the back finishing the regular season a game clear in top spot before beating the Flames and Perth Redbacks to book in another Grand Final appearance.
But for the Flames, they built tremendous momentum through the second half of the season to end up in fourth position and then bouncing back last weekend with terrific wins over the Mandurah Magic and Lakeside Lightning to reach a first ever men's Grand Final.
The Hawks did lead the entire way until the Flames opened the fourth quarter in stunning fashion with an 8-0 run to lead for the first time.
But Perry Lakes responded as they had to and down the stretch it was Ryan Smith's attack on the basket, and three-point shooting that iced the game coinciding with Tom Jervis fouling out for Rockingham after battling foul trouble all evening that would prove pivotal in the eventual 92-82 win.
It was the cohesiveness, depth, class and experience of the Hawks that saw them win a first NBL1 West championship on the back of six in the SBL, including most recently in 2018.
Andrew Ferguson was named Grand Final MVP after the Perth Wildcats development player capped his move from Lakeside in 2021 with 18 points and 15 rebounds, but more importantly by helping get Jervis in foul trouble it was game-changing.
It was once again the depth that shone for Perry Lakes with co-captain Ben Purser delivering another 16 points, four rebounds and four assists.
Mitch Clarke was terrific as point guard with 14 points, five boards and four assists with Ryan Smith finishing with 11 points, Lewis Thomas seven points and eight rebounds, Cooper Hamilton five points and co-captain Rob Cassir four.
But it was Matt Leary who was the spark who wasn’t there for the previous title for Perry Lakes and he produced 17 points including 3/4 from deep.
It's a third championship for coach Matt Parsons to go with the successes he led at Cockburn in 2016 and Perry Lakes in 2018 in what is now becoming a remarkable coaching legacy to only be behind the all-time greats John Gardiner (five) and Andy Stewart (four) now in terms of titles.
"It's a very surreal feeling right now. It's very rare to get the chance to win a championship and you put value on all of them, and the group that you go with for that year," Parsons said.
"We've been fortunate to come out on top a few times, but credit to Rockingham. We came out the gates and I thought we really controlled the game early and then they wanted to turn it into a dogfight, and they were able to do that.
"They stayed around and stayed around, and took the lead there early in the last. A few sweat beads obviously started coming, but to our credit we are a group who has been together and played together for a while now, and they managed to find the plays when they needed to."
Rockingham deserve to be tremendously proud of the performance to reach the Grand Final, and the fight they delivered.
Inspirational 273-game captain Ryan Godfrey went so close to leading the Flames to the title when he got rolling in the second half to finish with 20 points and four assists.
The Flames will be left to wonder what might have been had Jervis played more than 21 minutes after the triple NBL champion still had 11 points and 10 rebounds in that time.
Four-time NBL champion Greg Hire tried to lift Rockingham too with eight points and five rebounds while Cirkook Makuac Riak finished with 15 points, Atem Bior 12 (nine rebounds), Justin Beard seven and Travis Durnin five.
Perry Lakes threatened on several occasions to open up a match-winning lead including going into quarter-time up 29-20. The Hawks opened up a double-figure lead in the second term but were up just seven at the half before Ryan Godfrey sparked the Flames fightback.
Greg Hire then played some inspired basketball to close the third quarter to make it a one-point game before a Matt Leary buzzer-beater from halfcourt turned the game back the Hawks' way.
They were up four and then five after converting a tech foul but then the Flames looked as though the title could really be theirs.
Tom Jervis scored first, then did Atem Bior and when Godfrey hit the next four points, suddenly Rockingham was up for the first time on the night.
Perry Lakes responded through Clarke and Purser to regain the lead, before Smith scored on a drive, and then knocked down a three to prove the game-changer for the last time.
Then with just over two minutes left, Smith got to the foul line with a foul called on Jervis, his fifth, and he hit both and the Hawks went on to win by 10.
NBL1 WEST MEN'S GRAND FINAL
PERRY LAKES HAWKS 92 (Ferguson 18, Leary 17, Purser 16)
ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 82 (Godfrey 20, Riak 15, Bior 12)
Grand Final MVP: Andrew Ferguson
