NBL1 West Recap | Men's Friday Round 13

A remarkable half-court prayer from Jonathan Wade gave the Joondalup Wolves a stunning home win over the Rockingham Flames on Friday night with narrow Friday night NBL1 West Men's wins also for the Cockburn Cougars and East Perth Eagles.

The Wolfpack snatched the win over the Flames thanks to the incredible half-court buzzer-beater from Wade while the Cougars held out the Perry Lakes Hawks and the Eagles won their second game of the season by beating the Lakeside Lightning in overtime.

The Cockburn Cougars and Perry Lakes Hawks have combined to win three of the last six championships and they played out another thriller on Friday night with the Cougars holding off the fast finishing Hawks to win 94-91.

Carter Skaggs hit nine three-pointers in the first half and 12 for the night for Cockburn on his way to 38 points in a spectacular performance while Andrew Ferguson had 17 points and seven rebounds for Perry Lakes.

The Rockingham Flames put together a strong performance on the road to the Joondalup Wolves on Friday night, but left the door just ajar and then the Jonathan Wade prayer on the buzzer saw the Wolfpack snatch the dramatic 91-88 victory.

Wade finished the night with 25 points and 10 rebounds with CJ Turnage adding 25 points while Devondrick Walker had 21 points, and Travis Durnin 11 points and 14 rebounds.

The Lakeside Lightning and East Perth Eagles had combined for just four wins this season coming into Friday night's clash, but it didn’t stop them putting on a show that went to overtime with East Perth prevailing 110-106.

It was the class and experience of Lee Roberts (26 points, seven rebounds) and Justin King (29 points, seven assists) that got the Eagles home while Landon Taliaferro had 27 points for Lakeside and Donnie Vaughn 23 points and 11 assists.

First Nations Round in the NBL1 West continues on Saturday evening with the East Perth Eagles backing up to host the Kalamunda Eastern Suns while the Mandurah Magic take on the Willetton Tigers and the Rockingham Flames also back up to play host to the Warwick Senators.

The Perth Redbacks host the Geraldton Buccaneers with the Goldfields Giants and South West Slammers playing back-to-back match ups this weekend in Esperance firstly on Saturday night and then Sunday.

Also on Sunday, the Willetton Tigers host the Perth Redbacks and the Kalamunda Eastern Suns are taking on the Geraldton Buccaneers.

NBL1 WEST – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 13 – FRIDAY NIGHT

COCKBURN COUGARS 94 defeated PERRY LAKES HAWKS 91

Battles between Cockburn and Perry Lakes rarely disappoint and Friday night at Wally Hagan Stadium was no different.

The two teams have combined to win three of the past six championships in the competition and all three of those were with Matt Parsons as coach so when the current Perry Lakes boss returns to Cockburn, it's always an eventful occasion.

Perry Lakes started strongly on Friday night too away from home as part of First Nations Round in the NBL1 West. The Hawks put together eight straight points to lead by 11, and still be up by seven at quarter-time.

However, Carter Skaggs then took over for Cockburn in remarkable fashion in the second quarter and by half-time, he had knocked down nine three-pointers and had 29 points which saw the Cougars pile on 44 points to 17 in the second term to lead 65-45 at half-time.

Perry Lakes aren’t the reigning champions for nothing, though, and they shook off that rough second quarter to fire back into the contest in the third period with 29 points to 17.

While Cockburn maintained a double-figure advantage early in the fourth term, new Perry Lakes recruit Jack Isenbarger sparked his new team on his third appearance with five quick points.

All of a sudden when Ben Purser drained a three with two minutes to go, the Hawks were back within five and then Ryan Smith hit a triple of his own with a minute to go to make it a three-point game.

However, that would be the last score of the contest and Cockburn clung on to the 94-91 victory to improve to 9-6 on the season with the Hawks slipping to 8-7.

On the back of the remarkable performance by Carter Skaggs, Cockburn shot 20/35 at 57.1 per cent from three-point range while they also outrebounded Perry Lakes 39 to 28 for the night.

Skaggs ended the night with 38 points and nine rebounds while shooting a phenomenal 13/15 overall and 12/14 from three-point territory. However, Perry Lakes did well to limit his touches and opportunities in the second half.

Paschal Chukwu added 12 points and seven rebounds for Cockburn, Gavin Field seven points, seven rebounds and three assists, Seva Chan seven points and six assists, and Luke Phillips nine points and three boards.

Andrew Ferguson delivered 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists for Perry Lakes with Ben Purser contributing 16 points and six assists.

Lewis Thomas also had 11 points and five boards, Matt Leary nine points and three rebounds, Ryan Smith nine points with 3/4 from downtown, and AJ Nobensi eight points and two assists.

 

JOONDALUP WOLVES 91 defeated ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 88

The Joondalup Wolves and Rockingham Flames have developed quite the rivalry in recent years and that continued on Friday night at HBF Arena with the Wolfpack winning in the most spectacular of fashions.

There's certainly no love lost between the two teams which has created some memorable match ups in recent years particularly since Greg Hire continued his state league career with Rockingham rather than Joondalup following his time in the NBL at the Perth Wildcats.

Hire might not have been there on Friday night given he is in the middle of his FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup campaign for Australia, but it didn’t mean there was any less feeling in what turned out to be a memorable contest between two top four contending teams.

No more than seven points separated the two teams the whole night with the Wolves just leading by two points at quarter-time before Rockingham built some momentum in the second term with 29 points to 23 to go into half-time on top 52-48.

While the Flames did manage to lead by seven points on multiple occasions through the second half, the Wolves kept fighting and stayed within striking distance.

Tom Jervis maintained that seven-point lead with four minutes to go before Jonathan Wade hit a three for the Wolves to bring the margin back to four.

Julian Pesava then tied scores up with a massive three and the individual battle between close friends Pesava and Marshall Nelson soon became fascinating.

However, it was star imports Devondrick Walker and CJ Turnage who traded baskets for their respective teams with scores all locked at 88-88 when Turnage converted his and-one play.

Perhaps caught up in his battle with Pesava, Nelson took an off-balance and rushed three-point attempt for Rockingham which didn’t fall with Wade grabbing the defensive rebound to set up the most remarkable of game winners.

He took a few dribbles up against the baseline, threw up the half-court prayer and to be fair, it never looked like missing. When it fell, the Wolves escaped with the incredible 91-88 win and the celebrations were every bit as good as the shot for the Wolfpack on their home floor.

With Tom Jervis dominant inside and Travis Durnin giving good front court support. Rockingham dominated the boards with 53 rebounds to 38 for the night including 24 at the offensive end to 12.

However, the Wolves found a way to come away with the crucial win with Jonathan Wade not only hitting the winner but putting up 25 points and 10 rebounds with 5/7 from three-point range.

CJ Turnage also had 25 points, six rebounds and six assists on 11/16 shooting with Julian Pesava contributing 20 points and five boards, and Joel Vaiangina nine points.

Devondrick Walker ended the evening with 21 points, six rebounds and three assists for Rockingham with Tom Jervis adding 17 points and seven boards, and Travis Durnin 11 points and 14 boards.

Captain Ryan Godfrey added 14 points and three rebounds with Marshall Nelson finishing with 15 points, nine rebounds and six assists, and Callum Beard seven points, five rebounds and three assists.

 

LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 106 lost to EAST PERTH EAGLES 110

The Lakeside Lightning and East Perth Eagles might have only combined for four wins so far this NBL1 West season coming into Friday night, but they produced quite the entertaining overtime contest.

The Lightning hosted the Eagles at Lakeside Recreation Centre as part of First Nations Round with Lakeside having won just three of 14 matches so far in 2022 while East Perth had just one win on the board and were on a nine-game losing streak.

Neither team played like those records suggest in what was a high-quality, free-flowing and entertaining battle that needed extra time to be decided.

It was East Perth who made the flying start and all of a sudden with their big three of Lee Roberts, Justin King and Shaquille Maharaj playing together, they look a significantly different unit.

As a result, the Eagles raced to a 30-12 lead by the end of the first quarter on the back of scoring 11 straight points.

The East Perth advantage grew to 20 points during the second term but Lakeside managed to work their way back into the contest and had cut the deficit to 16 by the half-time break.

East Perth was still in control, though, and were back up 19 during the third term but the Lightning were finding some momentum on their home floor and went on an 8-0 run to score 24 points to 16 in the third term to get back into the game.

East Perth did maintain a narrow advantage still most of the fourth term until Landon Taliaferro stepped up for Lakeside with just under four minutes to go to tie scores up with a three ball.

King responded immediately for East Perth with a three of his own but then Liam Patterson converted a three-point play for the Lightning to make scores level again with less than three minutes to play.

Two more three-point bombs from Taliaferro, and then the game tying drive and finish from Donnie Vaughn saw Lakeside force the game into overtime though.

The home team had all the momentum and started the extra period on fire with yet another three ball from Taliaferro and then a dunk on the break after a steal from Vaughn.

However, from there it was the class and experience of Roberts and King for East Perth that was the difference and they combined to put the Eagles on their backs to deliver them their second win of the season, prevailing 110-106.

It was a high quality affair from both teams with East Perth ending up shooting the ball phenomenally. They went 57.4 per cent overall from the floor and hit 12/21 at 57.1 per cent from downtown along with 20/25 at the foul line.

Lakeside weren’t bad either in the end going at 40.0 per cent from the field while hitting 17/45 at 37.8 per cent from downtown and 13/17 at the charity stripe.

Justin King finished with 29 points and seven assists for the Eagles on the back of 12/20 shooting with 3/5 from downtown.

Lee Roberts also put up 26 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two assists, Jarrad Anastasio 14 points and seven boards, Fabian Johnson 13 points, Elijah Pawson 10 points and four assists, and Shaquille Maharaj six points and seven rebounds.

Landon Taliaferro might have started slow but came up huge for Lakeside in the fourth quarter and early overtime with 27 points on 6/14 shooting from downtown.

Donnie Vaughn added 23 points and 11 assists, Liam Patterson 11 points and four boards, and Josh Davey 10 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.