NBL1 West Recap | Friday Round 9

There were stunning nail-biters in the men's NBL1 West on Friday night with Bryton Hobbs hitting the winner in overtime for the Perth Redbacks and the South West Slammers scoring the last eight points to keep the Mandurah Magic winless after Kat Tudor and Sarah Allen starred in women's victories.

Two venues were in action on Friday night to open Round 9 in the NBL1 West and the women's results saw the Mandurah Magic beat the South West Slammers 94-47 and the East Perth Eagles defeat the Perth Redbacks 77-64.

Then in the men's matches, a total of four points was the margin over the two games with the Slammers beating the Magic 92-89 and the Redbacks beating the Eagles 100-99 in overtime.

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WOMEN

Magic inflict some more pain on Slammers

The Mandurah Magic held the South West Slammers to just two points the entire fourth quarter on the way to the Friday night 94-47 victory on their home floor.

It was a significant test for the Slammers to try and snap their 21-game losing streak away to the Magic at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre but they did their best to stay in the contest for the opening three quarters.

Mandurah had opened up a seven-point lead by quarter-time before the Magic put up 31 points to 13 in the second period to go into the half-time break on top 53-28.

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The Slammers actually outscored the Magic 12 points to 11 in the third quarter, but then in the fourth it was 24 points to two from Mandurah with the home team going on to win by 47 points.

The victory improves the Magic to a 7-2 record this season having won four straight while the Slammers remain winless in 2023. They have lost all 10 matches this season and have a losing streak of 22 now and have lost 63 of the last 64.

Kat Tudor is settling in nicely now in her first season with Mandurah and second season in the league after playing at the Cockburn Cougars in 2022. She finished with 23 points, six steals, five rebounds and four assists.

Sarah Toeaina added 15 points, 10 rebounds and four assists for the Redbacks, 223-game veteran Gabby Turner 14 points, four boards, three assists and two steals, and Carly Boag 13 points and nine rebounds.

New import Hannah Hank also had eight points and nine rebounds with the league's games record holder Casey Mihovilovich adding eight points, eight boards, three steals and two assists.

Despite the 47-point margin and two-point fourth quarter, there were still some positives for the Slammers with Kate Williams putting up 13 points and three rebounds.

Bree Chalk added seven points and three rebounds, Jasmine Barrett five points, four steals and three assists, and daughter-of-a-legend Javene Fitch five points and seven rebounds.

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Allens enjoy their Belmont return for Eagles

Sarah Allen shone on her return to her old home court to knock down six three-pointers as the East Perth Eagles took away the 77-64 from Belmont Oasis against the Perth Redbacks.

There were plenty of members of the East Perth team who had formerly been part of the Redbacks and might have come back to their old home floor with a bit of a point to prove.

That included first-year Eagles coach Craig Allen who had done well to lead the Redbacks into the preliminary finals in 2021 along with his point guard daughter Sarah, and versatile centre and former Grand Final MVP Maddie Allen. Even Taylor Robertswho did play seven games with Perth in 2019.

Both teams came into the contest desperate for a win with the Eagles having lost five of their past seven while the Redbacks have just one win from nine games and were playing their second game under new coach Jason Smith.

It was East Perth who started the game on fire and it was sparked by Sarah Allen who made three triples in the opening quarter alone to help the Eagles to the 21-11 lead on her old home floor.

East Perth wouldn’t give up the lead the rest of the evening ending up leading by 14 points in the second quarter, 17 in the third and 18 in the fourth before the Eagles settled on the 13-point victory.

The result sees East Perth improve to a 5-7 record on the season with the Redbacks slipping to 1-9 having lost their past four since their lone loss of the season which surprisingly saw them hand the Mandurah Magic their first defeat of 2023.

Sarah Allen continued what is her career-best season so far with the Eagles after previously playing 66 games with Perth and Mandurah. She was terrific with 20 points and three assists while knocking down 6/11 from three-point territory.

Tessa Morrison added 14 points and three rebounds for East Perth, Sylwia Bujnak 14 points, five assists and four rebounds, Madison Torresin 13 points, 16 boards, six steals and five assists, and Maddie Allen eight points, eight rebounds, five assists, two blocks and a steal.

DaJah Daniel returned for the Redbacks and had her best performance of the season with 24 points and 18 rebounds. Lauren Scherf also had 10 points, 13 rebounds and six assists.

The Redbacks may have gone down, but that didn't stop DaJah Daniel from dropping:

? 22 points
? 18 rebounds
? 2 steals
? 1 block

A season-best night for the import centre ?

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MEN

Slammers inflict more heartache on Magic

For the second time inside six days the Mandurah Magic have been denied their first win of the season in heartbreaking fashion, this time with the South West Slammers scoring the 92-89 victory.

The Magic were back home at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre after losing at the death last Saturday night to the Willetton Tigers and still chasing their first win of the season under returning coach Mark Utley.

The Slammers arrived having lost their past eight matches as well so one of the teams was going to get that rejuvenating victory on Friday night.

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Mandurah looked well on track to get that long-awaited first win of the season when leading by 16 points during the second quarter. However, Slammers coach Shane Goff got the response he needed out of a timeout midway through the second quarter.

After he called that timeout, South West got back into the game outscoring Mandurah 18 points to nine heading into half-time to cut the Magic lead to 43-38.

The Slammers were then able to keep that momentum going with another 30 points to 21 in the third quarter to open up their own double-figure advantage.

The game was still heading for a thrilling finish and with less than five minutes to go, the lead continued to change hands on threes for Mandurah to Isaac Abergut and South West to Manyiel Wugol.

With 1:30 to go, Cousteau Kyle landed a corner triple to put Mandurah back in front by two and then Dequan Abrom stretched that lead to five at the free-throw line.

The Slammers were far from done and the visitors scored the game's last eight points to go from five points down to winning by three thanks to a layup to Buay Tuach, free-throws to Xavier Cotton and Wugol, and then the clinching bucket to Ben Stevens.

The victory improves the Slammers to 2-9 on the season as they snap the eight-game losing run while the Magic are 0-10.

Ben Stevens came up huge for the Slammers with a season-best 29 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two steals on 13/18 shooting.

Buay Tuach added 24 points and eight rebounds, Xavier Cotton 18 points, five boards, four steals and two assists, and Manyiel Wugol 15 points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Dequan Abrom backed up his 38 points from last week against Willetton with another 37 points, six assists and five steals for the Magic while hitting 6/13 from beyond the arc.

Former league MVP Ray Turner added 14 points, 17 rebounds and three steals, Isaac Abergut 13 points, three boards, two assists and two steals, and Celneque Bobbitt II 13 points, five steals, four rebounds and two assists.

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Redbacks snatch OT thriller from Eagles

That old adage of not saving the ball under the basket you are defending came back to bite the East Perth Eagles on Friday night with the Perth Redbacks claiming a heart stopping 100-99 overtime victory.

Ultimately what won the game for the Redbacks was a layup in the dying stages from superstar point guard Bryton Hobbs after a missed free-throw from Louis Timms.

East Perth should have had the rebound under control, but as the ball headed out of bounds, Naaman Hightower flung himself to save it and then tossed it back in the direction of teammate Lee Roberts.

Instead, the ball landed in the lap of Hobbs who was waiting eagerly under the bucket. He laid it in and from there the Redbacks held on for the one-point win after the five minutes of overtime.

While the Redbacks came into the game on a four-game winning run and the Eagles had just one win to their name for the season, it turned out to be one of the games of the NBL1 West season.

No more than six points ever separated the two teams and there were huge plays made along the way. Just as the Eagles appeared heading for their second win leading by six early in the fourth quarter, the Redbacks responded starting with a three from Tevin Jackson.

Bryton Hobbs hit another three ball soon after to put the home team back in front but down the finish of regulation the two teams kept trading the lead.

Eventually it was Justin King who hit the game tying bucket on a strong move to the basket and the game went into overtime from there.

Then in the extra period, there were again times where East Perth looked to have done enough including when Lee Roberts put them up two with time winding down. The play of the game looked as though it could have been when Roberts knocked a three from Hobbs off the rim too.

When that was deemed legal, it was almost time for East Perth to start celebrating. But the Redbacks had possession and Timms was fouled. He made the first, missed the second and the rest is history with Hightower saving the ball but throwing it to Hobbs for the game winning layup.

The Redbacks improved to 8-3 with the victory on the back of Tevin Jackson putting up 25 points, five rebounds and two assists.

Bryton Hobbs only shot 9/25 but still had 24 points, six boards, three assists and three steals with Brian Voelkel contributing 14 points, 10 boards, six assists and four steals.

Justin King did all he could to lift East Perth to a second win of the season with 30 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and two steals in the absence of Sebit Reath and Jerami Grace.

Lee Roberts had 24 points and 10 rebounds back on the floor of the team he led to a championship in 2017 with Taylor Young contributing 18 points, five boards, three assists and three steals, and captain Jarrad Anastasio 13 points, 12 rebounds and four blocked shots.

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You're not going to want to miss this ending ?

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