NAIDOC Week began to be celebrated in the NBL1 West on Friday night as Round 13 got underway with victories for the Mandurah Magic, Perth Redbacks, Warwick Senators and Willetton Tigers.
After a week off last weekend due to the COVID-19 restrictions, NBL1 West action resumed on Friday night with the beginning of Round 13 and it coincided with NAIDOC Week with all clubs participating to mark the occasion by wearing Indigenous themed playing uniforms.
There were four big matches on Friday night as well beginning with Scott Machado taking his Mandurah Magic show to Eaton Recreation Centre and defeating the South West Slammers 85-69.
Jerami Grace was the star in the win for the Magic with 24 points and six assists while Mitch Keller and Caleb Van De Griend had 18 points each for the Slammers.
The Perth Redbacks kept their hot form going to have now won six of their past seven matches defeating the Joondalup Wolves 98-81 at HBF Arena.
Marshall Nelson had 28 points for the Redbacks, Louis Timms 25, Tevin Jackson 18 and Zac Gattorna 14 while Jonathan Wade put up 28 points for the Wolfpack.
The Warwick Senators were then able to snap their three-game losing slide at the expense of the Kalamunda Eastern Suns with a 90-81 victory at Ray Owen Sports Centre.
Cody Ellis led the Senators with 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists as Jermaine Malie had the best night of is career for the Eastern Suns with 29 points.
The Willetton Tigers then made it eight wins in-a-row to maintain their hold on top position in the NBL1 West Men's Division with a 95-90 win over the Rockingham Flames at Willetton Basketball Stadium.
Connor Mincherton continued his emergence with 31 points for the Tigers with Atem Bior top-scoring for the Flames with 19 points to go with 10 rebounds.
That all leads into a monster Saturday night in the NBL1 West Men's Division including the Perth Redbacks at home to the Willetton Tigers in a battle of two of the form teams of the competition.
The East Perth Eagles also play the Perry Lakes Hawks, the Mandurah Magic face the Joondalup Wolves, the Rockingham Flames take on the Geraldton Buccaneers, the Goldfields Giants host the Lakeside Lightning and the Cockburn Cougars battle the Kalamunda Eastern Suns.
The round then concludes at midday on Sunday with the Perry Lakes Hawks playing the Geraldton Buccaneers at Bendat Basketball Centre.
NBL1 WEST – 2021 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 13 – FRIDAY NIGHT
SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 69 lost to MANDURAH MAGIC 85
Scott Machado and the Mandurah Magic kept their winning form going on the road on Saturday night with a 16-point win against the South West Slammers.
The Magic were coming off recording their first win with the Cairns Taipans NBL superstar Scott Machado in their line-up two weeks ago on the road in Kalgoorlie, and it was back on the road to Eaton Recreation Centre on Friday night to take on the Slammers.
They might not have played together in Cairns, but Slammers coach Mark Worthington has his own rich history with the Snakes so it was a rare occasion were two greats of the Far North Queensland NBL team were well represented on the other side of the country.
It was a tight start to the game as well and it was a tight opening three quarters with the Slammers trying to snap their five-game losing run against their nearest rivals in terms of proximity.
The Magic led by just three points at quarter-time but the Slammers turned that around with 24 points to 20 in the second term to head into half-time with the surprise 43-42 lead.
It was a low-scoring and tight third quarter with Mandurah just managing to regain the lead to go into three quarter-time with a 57-56 advantage.
The game then broke open the way of Mandurah in the final quarter with the Magic putting on 28 points to just 13 from the Slammers for them to come away 85-69 winners with Luke Travers to still join their squad in the second half of 2021.
Jerami Grace was the star of the evening for Mandurah ending up with 24 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals.
Fred Williams also put up 14 points and two assist for the Magic while Xavier Shaw contributed 13 points and two rebounds, Scott Machado 12 points, eight steals, seven assists and seven rebounds, Brian Carlwell nine points and four boards, and Riley Parker eight points and three assists.
Caleb Van De Griend finished with 18 points and eight rebounds for the Slammers with Mitch Keller contributing 18 points and four assists, Rhys Barrett 13 points and three rebounds, and Devan Craig 10 points, five boards and three assists.
JOONDALUP WOLVES 81 lost to PERTH REDBACKS 98
The Perth Redbacks continue to be emerging as one of the genuine form teams of the NBL1 West Men's Division following an impressive 17-point win against the Joondalup Wolves at HBF Arena on Friday night.
The Wolfpack and Redbacks both came into Friday night's clash at HBF Arena on identical 7-5 records with the winner to keep themselves right in the hunt for a top four finish while things would become challenging for the loser.
The Redbacks had found their best form of the season prior to the break last weekend having won six of their past seven matches to improve to that 7-5 record while it had been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for the Wolfpack who did lose last up to the Rockingham Flames at home.
It was a scintillating start by Perth away from home as well on Friday night as they piled on 36 points in the first quarter to already have a 20-point advantage to their credit by quarter-time.
It was more of the same from the Redbacks in the second term as the visitors put on another 25 points and held the Wolves to just 15 to go into the half-time break well in control leading 61-31.
The Wolfpack attempted to mount a fightback in the third quarter and did outscore the Redbacks 29 points to 13, but Perth was able to stem the tide and finish strongly to end up winning 98-81.
The victory means that the Redbacks have now won six of their past seven matches to hold an 8-5 record to be knocking on the door of the top four while the Wolfpack slip back a little at 7-6.
It was a strong offensive showing from the Redbacks and they went 53.3 per cent from the field as a team while also dishing out 24 assists on just the 14 turnovers and also winning the rebound count.
Marshall Nelson is warming into the season nicely now for the Redbacks and he led the way on the night with 28 points, seven assists, five rebounds and three steals while hitting 9/17 from the field and 4/9 from three-point territory.
Louis Timms continued his terrific form too against his original club by putting up another 25 points and 10 rebounds on a supremely efficient 12/16 shooting.
Tevin Jackson added 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists as well for the Redbacks with Zac Gattorna putting up 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals, and Joel Wagner five points and two assists.
Jonathan Wade did all he could for the Wolfpack putting up 28 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists while Reece Maxwell contributed 13 points and six boards.
Joel Vaiangina finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds for Joondalup, Lochlan Cummings 10 points, six rebounds and three assists, and Trian Iliadis six points.
KALAMUNDA EASTERN SUNS 81 lost to WARWICK SENATORS 90
The Warwick Senators haven’t quite been able to maintain their hot start to the NBL1 West season but they did get back to the winner's list on Friday night at the expense of the Kalamunda Eastern Suns.
Not helped by losing Corban Wroe to injury likely for the rest of the season and also Justin King not always being available, the Senators haven’t been at full strength in recent times and their form has suffered accordingly.
Coming into Friday's trip to Ray Owen Sports Centre, the Senators had lost three in-a-row on the back of winning last year's West Coast Classic championship and the first five games of 2021, and they needed to bounce back to stay in touch for the top four.
It wasn’t going to be easy on the road to Kalamunda, though, with the Eastern Suns on their own impressive run of form having won three straight prior to the break last weekend.
That set the stage for a fascinating contest and it was a tight opening with Warwick up just three by quarter-time before that lead grew to 45-35 by half-time on the back of the Senators scoring 25 points to 18 in the second period.
Things remained close in the second half and the Eastern Suns had all the momentum when Ryan Blanchett scored with just under four minutes to go to make it a three-point ball game.
That came on the back of a triple from Nathan Drown but the Senators answered and it was once again teenage sensation Ethan Elliott who scored the two subsequent baskets to secure the ultimate 90-81 victory for Warwick.
Cody Ellis simply wasn’t going to let the Senators drop a fourth straight match and he delivered 21 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
He had plenty of help too and none better than Ethan Elliott who finished with 18 points, three rebounds and three steals while Alier Riak added 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Jay Thwaites 11 points, eight boards and three assists.
Caleb Davis also had nine points, nine rebounds and four assists for the Senators, George Pearl eight points and seven rebounds, and Ash Litterick six points and two boards.
Jermaine Malie had the best night of his career to date for the Eastern Suns finishing with 29 points, five rebounds and three assists on the back of shooting 9/13 from the floor, 3/5 from three-point range and 8/9 from the charity stripe.
Chris Johnson added 17 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals for Kalamunda, Ryan Blanchett seven points and three boards, Dyson Lowe six points and Cooper Lowe six points and three rebounds.
WILLETTON TIGERS 95 defeated ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 90
The addition of Tom Jervis for the Rockingham Flames wasn’t quite enough to see them topple the league-leading Willetton with the Tigers keeping their winning run going impressively.
The Flames welcomed Perth Wildcats NBL veteran big man Tom Jervis into their line-up for the first time on Friday night to try and give them that extra boost to a team already going pretty well in fourth spot at 8-5 coming into Round 13.
But the Tigers have been the trend setters so far in the NBL1 West Men's Division sitting on top of the table at 10-1 with an eight-game winning streak so Friday night at Willetton Basketball Stadium was always going to be an eventful evening.
Willetton started the game on fire and hopes of a tight contest looked as though they might not eventuate with the Tigers leading 29-13 by quarter-time.
But Rockingham responded in kind with 31 points to 15 in the second term and it was game well and truly on by half-time with scores level at 44-44.
Things remained tight in the third quarter with Willetton managing 21 points to 19 from Rockingham.
Travis Durnin hit five quick points early in the fourth quarter to put Rockingham back on top before Greg Hire and Durnin again stretched their lead out to four points.
It was still a four-point Rockingham lead before a pair of free-throws for Willetton to Connor Mincherton and then they grabbed back the lead thanks to a Dylan Hampson three ball.
The scene was being set for a big finish, though, and Brendan Redhead hit a triple to bring the Flames back level again with four minutes to go.
But the Tigers stepped up with the game on the line beginning with a four-point play from young gun Mincherton and then a triple from Roosevelt Williams. That had the Tigers up five and they would go on to win 95-90.
Connor Mincherton delivered another standout performance for Willetton to finish up the match-winner with 31 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals while hitting 5/12 from three-point land and going 12/16 at the free-throw line.
Roosevelt Williams had the best night of his career as well in the absence of prolific scorer Damien Scott, putting up 20 points on 3/6 from downtown.
Michael Vigor had another 18 points, 12 rebounds and five steals for Willetton with Dylan Hampson adding seven points and three assists, and Andrew Black and Lachie Evans five points apiece.
Atem Bior top-scored for Rockingham with 19 points, 10 rebounds and three assists with Brendan Redhead continuing his emergence with 17 points and five assists.
Justin Beard finished with 12 points and four assists, Tom Jervis 11 points and six rebounds, Travis Durnin 10 points and five boards, and Greg Hire nine points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.
