NBL1 West Recap | Men's Friday Round 10

A remarkable 28-point first quarter from Dequan Abrom didn’t end up being enough for the Mandurah Magic at home to the Cockburn Cougars on Friday night while there were also Round 10 wins for the Joondalup Wolves and Warwick Senators.

The Friday night action began at HBF Arena with a game full of highlights, drama and tension with the Joondalup Wolves ending up prevailing 96-91 against the Joondalup Wolves.

CJ Turnage and Julian Pesava ended up combining for 62 points, 17 rebounds and seven assists in the win for the Wolfpack while Tevin Jackson, Zac Gattorna and Jerami Grace all combined for 64 points for the Redbacks.

Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre played host to quite the remarkable contest on Friday night with the Cockburn Cougars ending up beating the Mandurah Magic 105-99.

That was after Dequan Abrom produced a simply incredible opening quarter with 28 points and seven three-pointers. 

He had 35 points to half-time Mandurah leading 58-43, but Cockburn dominated the second half to win on the back of 27 points from Carter Skaggs and 20 from Gavin Field. Abrom finished with 42 for the Magic.

The Warwick Senators then had to fight back from being behind too at Herb Graham Recreation Centre before beating the East Perth Eagles 80-68.

Cody Ellis ended up with 19 points, five rebounds and five assists in the win for the Senators while Justin King had 22 points and 12 rebounds in his first appearance against the team he played his first 76 games in the league with.

Round 10 in the NBL1 West season will continue on Saturday evening beginning at 7pm with the South West Slammers at home to the Joondalup Wolves while the Geraldton Buccaneers are back home after suffering their first defeat to the Willetton Tigers.

Also at 7pm, the Warwick Senators back up in a rematch from Friday against the East Perth Eagles before at 7.30pm, it's the Goldfields Giants back at home to the Perry Lakes Hawks.

Then at 8pm, the Lakeside Lightning will be hosting the Mandurah Magic and finally at 8.30pm, the Kalamunda Eastern Suns are at home to the Rockingham Flames in the final game of the round.

NBL1 WEST – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 10 – FRIDAY NIGHT

MANDURAH MAGIC 99 lost to COCKBURN COUGARS 105

What a night it was at the Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre and despite the 28 first quarter points from Dequan Abrom, it was the Cougars who came away with the road victory.

On a night where the Magic were again able to roll with an eight-man rotation on the back of beating Perry Lakes last Sunday with just the seven players hitting the floor, they started on fire thanks to the most spectacular of first quarters from import guard Abrom.

He produced one of the most spectacular starts to a game imaginable and there was nothing the Cougars could do to stop the remarkable roll he went on.

By the end of the first quarter, he had nailed all seven of his three-point attempts but had also shown an ability to get to the rack on his way to 28 points with Mandurah leading 36-21 on the back of that.

He couldn’t quite maintain that pace in the second quarter but still by half-time he had 35 points to his name and had made eight three-pointers. 

However, Cockburn had done well to weather the storm and to only trail by 15 points at the major break with 22 points from Carter Skaggs pivotal in them avoiding being blown away by the Abrom onslaught.

Having taken those 58 points in the first half from the Magic, the Cougars stuck to their guns and then ended up dominating the second half including 34 points of their own to 16 in the third period to be leading 77-74 heading into the fourth quarter.

Cockburn went on with the job in the fourth quarter too to claim the morale boosting win 105-99 given what they were able to withstand in the first half away from home.

It makes it consecutive wins for the Cougars on the back of handing Geraldton its first loss on Sunday to see them improve to a 7-5 record on the season while the Magic are now 7-5 as well following the defeat.

Carter Skaggs kept Cockburn in the contest with first half performance and while he only added five points in the second half, he was still instrumental in the win with 27 points and seven rebounds on shooting 6/11 from three-point range.

Gavin Field led the charge for the Cougars in the second half to end up with 20 points, four rebounds and three assists on 7/10 shooting with Josh Hunt contributing 15 points and four assists against his former team.

Paschal Chukwu was a good presence inside for Cockburn with 11 points and 13 rebounds despite playing just 20 minutes with Seva Chan finishing with eight points and four assists as he resumed his career long point guard rivalry with Kyle Armour.

Dequan Abrom ended the night with 42 points for the Magic to go with four rebounds, four steals and three assists while hitting 9/13 from three-point land.

Christian Jurlina added 14 points, four assists, four steals and three assists for Mandurah, Ray Turner 13 points and eight rebounds, and Jay Bowie 10 points despite just shooting 3/15 for the night.

 

EAST PERTH EAGLES 68 lost to WARWICK SENATORS 80

The Warwick Senators bounced back from just their third loss of the season to beat the East Perth Eagles by 12 points on Friday night, but they didn’t have it all their own way.

This game was scheduled to take place at Herb Graham Recreation Centre last Friday night before there was a fire at the venue pushing back to this Friday night ahead of the two teams again locking horns at Warwick Stadium on Saturday night as part of Round 10 in the NBL1 West.

That gave East Perth the chance to welcome back versatile star Shaquille Maharaj as well with former star Senators import guard Justin King also playing for the Eagles against his old team for the first time.

Both teams then went on to make their runs in the first quarter with the Senators making the first break to be up eight but East Perth fired back with 11 consecutive points with scores all square at 20-20 by the end of the opening term.

The Eagles were able to then string together seven straight points in the second term to lead by as much as seven and then be leading the Senators 42-37 by half-time.

The Senators were coming off a loss last week at home to the Geraldton Buccaneers having been on top most of the night in the contest even though they were without coach Luke Brennan along with Corban Wroe, Kyle Zunic and Bryan Michaels.

Only Wroe was back in the line-up for the clash with East Perth and Brennan was back coaching, but they had their work cut out at half-time.

The Senators were able to respond impressively after the break to dominate the second half, though, outscoring the Eagles 24 points to 10 in the third quarter, and 19 to 16 in the fourth to end up winning 80-68.

The result improves Warwick to an 8-3 record on the season comfortably inside the top four while East Perth slips to 1-10 with the two teams to do it all again on Saturday night at Warwick Stadium.

Captain Cody Ellis ended up top-scoring for the Senators with 19 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals while Caleb Davis contributed 15 points and eight rebounds.

George Pearl stepped up too for 13 points, six rebounds, six assists and five steals while Ash Litterick had 12 points and three boards, and Corban Wroe six points, six rebounds and three assists.

Justin King finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds in his first game against the team he played 76 games with while Shaquille Maharaj played his first game of the season for East Perth for 16 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals.

Fabian Johnson added 13 points for East Perth and Jarrad Anastasio five points, five rebounds and three emphatic and spectacular blocks.

 

JOONDALUP WOLVES 96 defeated PERTH REDBACKS 91

The Joondalup Wolves and Perth Redbacks played at a highly intense and exciting contest at HBF Arena on Friday night with the Wolfpack ending up prevailing by five points.

Both teams have every expectation to be genuine contenders in the 2022 NBL1 West season so Friday night's clash provided a chance to make a statement with the Wolves at home to the Redbacks.

Despite the Redbacks having a change in coach over the WA Day long weekend with the departure of CJ Jackson and assistant coach Mark Edman taking over they had an impressive win in Kalgoorlie last week against the Goldfields Giants.

The Wolves, meanwhile, split their two games with the Perry Lakes Hawks and Cockburn Cougars last weekend setting the stage for Friday night's match up.

The Redbacks started on fire as well with a 14-0 run during the first quarter to open up a 12-point advantage which they held at quarter-time.

The Wolves steadied the ship but couldn’t make too many inroads in the second term with the Redbacks still on top 42-32 at the main break.

The home team needed to respond and it was import guard CJ Turnage and swingman Julian Pesava who lifted impressively to help turn the tide with Joondalup scoring 33 points to 22 in the third quarter.

That saw the Wolves take a 65-64 lead into three quarter-time on the back of scoring more points in the third quarter than they did the entire first half.

Joondalup then managed to hold sway in the fourth quarter and lead by as much as 10, and then hold out the Redbacks late in the piece to end up winning 96-91.

The result improves the Wolfpack to an 8-3 record to maintain their hold on a top four spot while the Redbacks stay just outside the eight at 6-6.

CJ Turnage produced a tremendous performance in the win for Joondalup with 34 points, five rebounds and two assists including a couple spectacular finishes at the rim. He shot 14/26 from the field.

Julian Pesava came up big for the Wolves too with 28 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and two steals while knocking down 6/8 from beyond the three-point line.

Jonathan Wade added 12 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Wolves, Maris Colton 10 points and three blocked shots, and Joel Vaiangina six points, six rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots.

Tevin Jackson ended up top scoring for the Redbacks with 22 points to go with five rebounds and two assists while Zac Gattorna contributed 21 points, six rebounds and two steals, and Jerami Grace 21 points.

Ben Smith also had 12 points and four rebounds, and Kyden Edman 10 points.