NBL1 West Recap | Friday Men's Round 3

The Joondalup Wolves continued their winning start to the 2022 NBL1 West Men's season at the expense of the Perry Lakes Hawks in Ben Purser's milestone game with Friday night wins also for the Mandurah Magic, Warwick Senators and Rockingham Flames.

Following the Friday night matches to open Round 3, the Wolfpack and Flames maintained their undefeated starts to the season while keeping the Eastern Suns and Lightning winless in the process.

Ben Purser is already the games record holder with Perry Lakes and he celebrated his 350th game on Friday night, but it wasn’t with a win as the Joondalup Wolves scored the 80-68 victory at HBF Arena.

Julian Pesava delivered 29 points and nine rebounds in the win for the Wolfpack while Purser did all he could to lift his team with 23 points and 11 boards.

The Mandurah Magic made it consecutive wins after starting the season with two losses with the 84-77 victory against the Perth Redbacks at Belmont Oasis.

Ray Turner put up 23 points and 13 rebounds for Mandurah, and Kyle Armour 21 points and five assists with Jerami Grace producing 25 points against his former team for the Redbacks.

The Warwick Senators were playing their first home game at Warwick Stadium for the season and despite no Corban Wroe, Ash Litterick or Kyle Zunic, they defeated the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 102-93.

Bryan Michaels came up huge for the Senators with 35 points with Caleb Davis adding 24 points while Xavier Shaw finished with 22 points for the Eastern Suns and Tom Atkinson 22 to go with 11 rebounds.

The Rockingham Flames were without star veteran trio Tom Jervis, Greg Hire and Ryan Godfrey, but still defeated the Lakeside Lightning 99-91 at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

NBL experienced pair Devondrick Walker (32 points, eight rebounds, seven assists) and Marshall Nelson (25 points, 10 boards, six assists) were huge for Rockingham with Ben Lee putting up 23 points for the Lightning and Sebit Reath 21.

There's three more games in the NBL1 West Men's competition on Saturday night beginning with the South West Slammers hosting the Cockburn Cougars at Eaton Recreation Centre.

The Willetton Tigers are also at home to the Geraldton Buccaneers at Willetton Basketball Stadium and to close out the evening, the East Perth Eagles will be hosting the Goldfields Giants at Herb Graham Recreation Centre.

Round 3 continues on Sunday afternoon with the Cockburn Cougars playing the Goldfields Giants at Wally Hagan Stadium with the Lakeside Lightning also taking on the Geraldton Buccaneers at Lakeside Recreation Centre.

The round wraps on Monday with the traditional ANZAC Day clash between the Eastern Suns and Willetton Tigers at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

NBL1 WEST – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 3 – FRIDAY NIGHT

JOONDALUP WOLVES 80 defeated PERRY LAKES HAWKS 68

The Perry Lakes Hawks made a flying start in their 350-game celebration of captain Ben Purser, but the Joondalup Wolves whittled them down the rest of the way on the way to the 80-68 victory.

The Wolfpack started the new season under coach David Morrell beating the Willetton Tigers and Kalamunda Eastern Suns while Perry Lakes began their championship defence beating the Warwick Senators and then a heart stopper to the East Perth Eagles on Easter Thursday.

That set the stage for the battle between two teams who have become fierce rivals in recent years and have started the 2022 season in impressive form.

It was the Hawks who started strongly on Friday night at HBF Arena as well in what was the 350th game of dual championship winning co-captain, Grand Final MVP and games record holder Ben Purser.

Purser was on fire early on as well helping the Hawks open up a 27-15 advantage by quarter-time.

However, Joondalup was able to turn things back around in the second quarter outscoring Perry Lakes 28 points to 15 and that saw them take a narrow 43-42 advantage into the half-time break.

It was then a tight third quarter with the Wolves only extending their lead to two by three quarter-time, but it was all the Wolfpack with the game on the line in the fourth as they put up 22 points to 12 to claim the 12-point victory.

The result kept Joondalup undefeated so far this season while it saw Perry Lakes suffer the first defeat of their championship defence.

The major difference in the end was the Wolves shooting 47.8 per cent from the field opposed to 34.7 per cent from the Hawks.

Julian Pesava is fitting in nicely at his new home with the Wolfpack having previously played with the Cockburn Cougars, and he put up 29 points, nine rebounds and two assists on Friday night on the back of knocking down 5/7 from three-point land.

CJ Turnage put up another 15 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals for the Wolves, Jonathan Wade 15 points and four rebounds, and Joel Vaiangina 12 points and nine boards.

Ben Purser did all he could for Perry Lakes in his 350th appearance with 23 points and 11 rebounds with Andrew Ferguson contributing 14 points, eight boards and three assists, and Adam Thoseby 14 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals.

 

PERTH REDBACKS 77 lost to MANDURAH MAGIC 84

The Mandurah Magic have loaded up on talent this season and now have consecutive wins on the back of beating the Perth Redbacks at Belmont Oasis.

The Magic opened up the new season with losses to the Rockingham Flames and Geraldton Buccaneers, but bounced back last week with their first win of 2022 against Lakeside before arriving to Belmont on Friday looking to back that up.

The Redbacks had been without Louis Timms and Zac Gattorna early in the season even though they opened up with wins over the Eastern Suns and Slammers before losing to the Warwick Senators last Thursday night.

The Magic started strongly by holding the Redbacks to 13 points in the first quarter to lead by six with Mandurah adding another 24 points to 19 in the second period to lead 43-32 at the main break.

The Redbacks fired back to set up a tight finish in the third quarter but the Magic did enough down the stretch to end up winning 84-77 to make it back-to-back wins this season.

Despite the loss, the Redbacks dominated on the boards with 56 rebounds to just 42 from the Magic including 24 at the offensive end to six. However, the Magic ended up shooting 48.6 per cent from the field opposed to just 34.1 per cent for the Redbacks.

Ray Turner stood tall in the win for Mandurah finishing with 23 points and 13 rebounds on the back of shooting 11/14 from the field.

Kyle Armour added 21 points and five assists for the Magic, Christian Jurlina 15 points, 11 rebounds and six assists, Dequan Abrom 12 points, six boards, three steals and two assists, and Riley Parker seven points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Jerami Grace was playing his first game up against his former Magic team and delivered 25 points, six rebounds and two assists for the Redbacks.

Louis Timms made his first appearance of the season for Perth and finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds with Ben Smith contributing 11 points and 11 rebounds, Tevin Jackson nine points, seven rebounds and three assists, and Joel Wagner six points, six boards and four assists.

 

WARWICK SENATORS 102 defeated KALAMUNDA EASTERN SUNS 93

The Warwick Senators celebrated their first home game of the 2022 season on Friday night with a hard earned victory over a Kalamunda Eastern Suns team hunting their first win.

The Senators opened the new season with a narrow loss to the defending champion Perry Lakes Hawks before their first win of 2022 against the Perth Redbacks under the coaching of Stephen Charlton until Luke Brennan becomes available to take over.

The Eastern Suns are beginning a new era as well this year until Ben Ettridge and were still chasing their first win coming into Friday night's game with the Senators at Warwick Stadium.

It was a hot opening to the game with the Senators putting up 36 points in the first quarter but the Suns did well to keep in touch putting up 27 themselves.

Kalamunda then produced a strong second quarter outscoring Warwick 26 points to 20 to cut the Senators advantage to 56-53 at the major break.

It remained a tight game for much of the second half but the Senators on the back of the scoring punch of Bryan Michaels and experience of Cody Ellis and Caleb Davis pulled away for the eventual 102-93 victory.

The Senators made it back-to-back wins despite the absence of Corban Wroe, Ash Litterick and Kyle Zunic while the Eastern Suns can take heart from their competitive showing.

Both teams had impressive shooting nights with the Senators going 36/69 at 52.2 per cent from the field and the Suns 37/69 at 53.6 per cent.

Bryan Michaels came up huge for Warwick putting up 35 points to go with four assists, three rebounds and two steals on 11/22 shooting from the floor and 5/10 from downtown.

Caleb Davis continued his tremendous start to the season too for the Senators with another 24 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two blocks with captain Cody Ellis finishing with 12 points, six boards, four blocked shots and three assists.

George Pearl added 13 points and eight assists, and Tyler Shand 10 points and seven rebounds on a perfect 5/5 shooting from the field.

The Eastern Suns battled hard hunting that first win of the season with Xavier Shaw impressing with 22 points and eight rebounds on 11/14 shooting from the field as he settles into his life at a third club in the league.

Tom Atkinson is also at a third club after stints with Mandurah and Goldfields, and he put up 22 points and 11 rebounds for Kalamunda with Albert Almanza contributing 14 points and four boards, Jacob Formosa 12 points and seven assists, and captain Carl Aylett 12 points, three steals and two assists.

 

ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 99 defeated LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 91

The Rockingham Flames might have been missing a large contingent of their star-studded roster, but Devondrick Walker and Marshall Nelson were instrumental in ensuring they remained unbeaten in 2022.

The Flames started the season with wins against the Mandurah Magic and South West Slammers while the Lakeside Lightning came into Friday's clash still hunting their first win after first up defeats to the Goldfields Giants and the Magic.

Rockingham has put together quite the impressive squad for this season under WNBL Coach of the Year Ryan Petrik, but Greg Hire, Tom Jervis, Ryan Godfrey and Justin Beard were all part of the impressive contingent not playing at Mike Barnett Sports Complex on Friday against the Lightning.

With Rockingham trying to get by on a virtual six-man rotation and Lakeside hunting their first win of 2022, it loomed as a fascinating battle and it didn’t disappoint.

The Flames put up 26 points to 20 in the opening quarter but Lakeside kept things close with 20 points to 19 in the second term with Rockingham heading into the half-time break leading narrowly 45-40.

Rockingham produced an impressive third quarter with 29 points to 25 but the Lightning never gave up the fight and it was still a close finish, but eventually the Flames prevailed 99-91 to remain unbeaten in 2022 and to keep the Lightning still winless.

Lakeside ended up winning the rebound battle with 43 boards to 36 but there wasn’t a lot that separated the two teams through the evening

The ultimate difference was the performances of former NBL pair Devondrick Walker and Marshall Nelson for the Flames.

Walker is a former South East Melbourne Phoenix import and put up 32 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and two steals on shooting 11/20 from the field and 6/12 from three-point territory.

Nelson is fresh off a stint at the Cairns Taipans as an injury replacement player and he produced 25 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and two steals in the win for Mandurah.

Callum Beard added 18 points and a huge block for Rockingham with Travis Durnin contributing 14 points, four rebounds and three steals.

Ben Lee put up 23 points including hitting 3/5 from downtown for Lakeside to go with seven rebounds and two steals with Sebit Reath adding 21 points and rebounds.

Dom Jackson also added 14 points, four rebounds and two steals for the Lightning, Nick Palleschi 12 points, four boards and four assists, and Frank Johnson 11 points, four rebounds and three assists.