NBL1 West Recap | Men's Friday Round 12

Landon Taliaferro shot the Lakeside Lightning to their third win of the NBL1 West Men's season but it was the most spectacular finish imaginable provided by Marshall Nelson on his return to Belmont Oasis that stole the Friday night show.

There were two matches to open Round 12 of the NBL1 West season on Friday night starting at Eaton Recreation Centre with the Lakeside Lightning beating the South West Slammers 96-84.

Landon Taliaferro knocked down 11 three-pointers to put up 45 points in a stunning display for the Lightning while Brody England top-scored for the Slammers with 15 points.

The Perth Redbacks and Rockingham Flames then played out a remarkable overtime classic at Belmont Oasis.

It appeared Zac Gattorna and Jerami Grace had done enough to secure the Redbacks the win as they chase down a top eight spot, but Marshall Nelson had other ideas in what was his first game back in the building as an opposition player.

He pulled off back-to-back steals to score five points in the matter of seconds and then hit another stunning contested three-pointer to seal the most remarkable of 114-110 wins for the Flames.

Nelson finished with 39 points and Devondrick Walker 35 for Rockingham with Gattorna putting up 29 points for the Redbacks and Louis Timms 28 to go with 13 rebounds.

The rest of Round 12 in the NBL1 West takes place on Saturday evening with the Willetton Tigers hosting the Kalamunda Eastern Suns, the Cockburn Cougars taking on the undefeated Joondalup Wolves and the Goldfields Giants at home to the Mandurah Magic.

The Lakeside Lightning will also be hosting the Perry Lakes Hawks with the Warwick Senators at home to the South West Slammers and the Geraldton Buccaneers taking on the East Perth Eagles.

NBL1 WEST – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 12 – FRIDAY NIGHT

PERTH REDBACKS 110 lost to ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 114

The Perth Redbacks and Rockingham Flames played out the most incredible of games at Belmont Oasis on Friday night with the most remarkable of finishes to top it off.

The stage was naturally set with the firepower on either side with Jerami Grace, Louis Timms and Zac Gattorna firing the Redbacks with experienced heads Tevin Jackson and Joel Wagner while the Flames were led by Devondrick Walker and Marshall Nelson.

Ryan Godfrey also returned for Rockingham but they were without Greg Hire and Justin Beard while the Redbacks lost their inspirational captain Wagner to injury in the first half.

The Flames made the first move to lead by nine points at quarter-time but the Redbacks were able to fire back in the second term with 35 points to 26 to head into half-time all tied with Rockingham at 57-57.

Things remained tight throughout the second half and even though Rockingham led by five early in the fourth quarter, triples for the Redbacks from Timms and Gattorna put the home team back in front.

A three-pointer from Walker put Rockingham back on top as the teams continued to trade big play after big play. Jake Amos persisted and eventually landed a three ball to restore the Flames to a six-point lead but the Redbacks wouldn’t go away.

Grace might have had a tough shooting night but his three with two minutes left made it a one-point game again before Nelson nailed another three ball on his old home floor to put the Flames back up three with just over a minute left.

However, Grace responded in kind with a three of his own and that ended up sending the game into overtime when Ryan Godfrey's 281 games of experience didn’t help as he missed two free-throws that could have won the game for Rockingham.

That set up an extra period that will never be forgotten. The Redbacks dominated the first four minutes with another three from Grace and another from Gattorna to see them lead 107-100.

Ben Smith stretched the lead to 108-100 and it was 110-102 with just over a minute to go following a couple of free-throws from Gattorna, but that's when things really picked up.

Nelson hit a pair of free-throws and then managed to force a backcourt turnover on the Redbacks and then ran to the corner, shot from beyond the arc and drained it to make it a three-point ball game.

Then even more incredibly, he forced another backcourt turnover from Perth, this time drove it in for the layup and the Redbacks called for time and things were at a fever pitch.

Gattorna jacked up an ill-advised three-point shot out of the time out for the Redbacks and Nelson was just in a zone like rarely ever seen before. He hit a contested three-point jumper up the other end it was the most remarkable of one-man performances.

After the Flames were down eight just a minute earlier, he had hit two free-throws, drained two long-range bombs and made a layup while forcing two steals for the most incredible 10 points in a minute imaginable.

An offensive foul on Gattorna then sealed the deal for the Redbacks who then beat the press and Walker finished the game off with a dunk for Rockingham to celebrate the 114-110 win that won't soon be forgotten.

The win improves the Flames an 11-3 record on the season too to keep pace for a top two spot while the Redbacks remain outside the top eight at 6-8 having lost three in-a-row.

There were some incredible individual performances and none more so than what Marshall Nelson did in his first game back to Belmont Oasis as a visiting player having played the first 100 games of his career at the Redbacks.

He finished the night with 39 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals on shooting 13/23 from the floor, 7/15 from downtown and 6/9 at the foul line.

Fellow MVP threat Devondrick Walker produced 35 points, six rebounds and four assists for Rockingham with Ryan Godfrey adding 13 points and three assists, Callum Beard 10 points and four assists, and Jake Amos eight points.

Zac Gattorna put together a performance made up of 29 points, eight rebounds, four assists, four steals and two blocked shots for the Redbacks with Louis Timms adding 28 points and 13 boards.

Jerami Grace added 18 points and five assists, Ben Smith 19 points and 19 rebounds, and Tevin Jackson seven points, 10 assists and six boards.

SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 84 lost to LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 96

Two teams desperate for an NBL1 West win locked horns at Eaton Recreation Centre on Friday night.

With the South West Slammers having won just once so far in 2022 and Lakeside Lightning having notched just the two wins, both would have seen Friday night's contest as a real chance of breaking their losing slides.

Both teams made their runs in the first quarter as well and as a result it was a tight battle by quarter-time with the Lightning leading 28-27.

Things remained close during the second quarter with the Slammers outscoring the Lightning 20 points to 18 and that saw the home team leading 47-46 at the half-time break.

However, with Landon Taliaferro showing the shooting ability he arrived with the reputation of having, Lakeside were able to pull away in the second half starting with 29 points to 14 in the third quarter.

That set up the eventual 96-84 win for the Lightning to snap a three-game losing slide and improve them to 3-10 on the season while the Slammers have now lost five in-a-row at 1-13.

Lakeside ended up pulling down 58 rebounds to just 45 from South West while landing 14/49 from three-point range compared with 6/24 from the Slammers. The Lightning ended up taking 19 extra field goals for the night.

Landon Taliaferro produced the standout performance of his 10-game NBL1 career so far for Lakeside piling on 45 points to go with seven rebounds on the back of shooting 16/31 from the floor and 11/25 from three-point land.

Fellow import Donnie Vaughn added 18 points, four rebounds and four assists with Majier Garang contributing nine points and three blocks, and Liam Patterson eight points, 10 rebounds and four assists.

Brody England led the scoring for the Slammers with 15 points and five rebounds with new import Raphell Thomas-Edwards fouling out in just 16 minutes but showing encouraging signs with 13 points and seven rebounds.

Cory Richardson added 11 points and five rebounds, Caleb Van De Griend 11 points and seven boards, and Xavier Cotton 10 points and two steals.