NBL1 West Recap | Men's Friday Round 9

The Perry Lakes Hawks snatched a thriller from the Joondalup Wolves on the hot hand of Ryan Smith on Friday night with the Willetton Tigers having to also battle hard to overcome the South West Slammers.

The NBL1 West season underwent a general bye last week for the WA Day long weekend, but the action resumed on Friday night with a nail-biting win in the end for the Hawks at home to the Wolves before the Tigers ended up overrunning the determined Slammers.

There was supposed to be a third game on Friday night as well but the scheduled clash between the East Perth Eagles and Warwick Senators was postponed seven days due to a fire at Herb Graham Recreation Centre.

The Friday night action for Round 9 got underway at Bendat Basketball Centre and it was two huge three-pointers in the dying stages from dual championship winning sharpshooter Ryan Smith that saw the Perry Lakes Hawks beat the Joondalup Wolves 96-90.

Ben Purser finished with 23 points and seven assists for the Hawks, and Andrew Ferguson 18 points and 12 rebounds. Jonathan Wade top-scored for the Wolfpack with 25 points and six rebounds.

Then at Eaton Recreation Centre, it took until the fourth quarter for the Willetton Tigers to overpower the South West Slammers and end up winning 94-77.

Perth Wildcats development player Oliver Hayes-Brown finished with 27 points and 10 rebounds for Willetton with Damien Scott adding 12 points and nine boards. Buay Tuach had 26 points for the Slammers with Brody England energetic with 19 points and nine rebounds.

It all leads into a huge Saturday night in Round 9 of the NBL1 West season beginning at 7pm with the Joondalup Wolves at home to the Cockburn Cougars, the Warwick Senators playing the Geraldton Buccaneers and the Willetton Tigers hosting the Mandurah Magic.

Then at 7.30pm, the Goldfields Giants host the Perth Redbacks in Kalgoorlie before at 8pm, the Rockingham Flames play the East Perth Eagles and the Kalamunda Eastern Suns are at home to the Lakeside Lightning at 8.30pm.

The round will then wrap up on Sunday at midday with the Cockburn Cougars hosting the Geraldton Buccaneers before at 2pm it's the Mandurah Magic playing the Perry Lakes Hawks at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre.

NBL1 WEST – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 9 – FRIDAY NIGHT

PERRY LAKES HAWKS 96 defeated JOONDALUP WOLVES 90

The Perry Lakes Hawks and Joondalup Wolves developed quite the rivalry over recent years and another chapter was written into that on Friday night at Bendat Basketball Centre.

Most of the faces might have changed on the Joondalup side of things from a rivalry that developed in a host of playoff battles most notably the 2018 Grand Final, but still they delivered a terrific battle on Friday night to open Round 9 of the NBL1 West competition.

Both teams came into the game occupying spots in the top eight as well with the Wolves fresh off beating Mandurah two weeks ago while Perry Lakes lost last up to the Goldfields Giants on a Sunday on their home court.

Joondalup started strongly away from home to put up 11 straight points in the opening quarter on the way to leading by as much as nine points, and 27-22 by quarter-time.

Perry Lakes got rolling in impressive fashion in the second quarter, however, and piled on 33 points to turn that five point deficit into a 55-49 lead at half-time.

The Hawks extended that lead to eight points at three quarter-time, but the Wolves weren’t about to lie down and they produced a tremendous fourth quarter to go on a 12-0 run and to snatch the lead late.

The Wolfpack were up by four when CJ Turnage scored with just under three minutes to play. They might have all the momentum but the Hawks weren’t about to lie down.

It was dual championship winning sharpshooter Ryan Smith in his 181st game in the league that proved the difference. With the Hawks down three, he knocked down a triple and then he broke the deadlock with another, and from there Perry Lakes claimed the 96-90 victory.

The Hawks delivered an impressive shooting night going 52.2 per cent from the field opposed to 44.8 per cent from Joondalup while knocking down 14/31 at three-point territory compared with 9/27 from the Wolfpack.

Co-captain and games record holder Ben Purser produced 23 points, seven assists and five rebounds for Perry Lakes in a trademark performance against the team he won a Grand Final MVP against.

Andrew Ferguson also finished with 18 points an d12 rebounds for the Hawks, Ryan Smith 14 points and three assists, Adam Thoseby 14 points, and Matt Leary 11 points, six rebounds and two steals.

Jonathan Wade put up 25 points and six rebounds on 11/18 shooting from the floor for Joondalup with Julian Pesava contributing 21 points and six boards, CJ Turnage 12 points and eight rebounds, Joel Vaiangina 12 points and eight boards, and Jordan Wellsteed 10 points, four rebounds, four steals and two assists in the 200th game of his career.

SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 77 lost to WILLETTON TIGERS 94

The experience and quality of the Willetton Tigers prevailed in the end but not before the South West Slammers gave them quite a scare on Friday night.

The Slammers were at home at Eaton Recreation Centre to the Tigers on Friday night to open Round 9 in the NBL1 West competition, and the home team started impressively despite having won just one game this season.

With Brody England and Buay Tuach producing some exciting plays, and the experienced Cory Richardson providing the cool head, the Slammers started well and led by 10 points at quarter-time against Willetton.

The Tigers needed to respond and with experience like Michael Vigor, Damien Scott and Andrew Black, and the presence of Oliver Hayes-Brown they were always going to. 

The Tigers scored 12 straight points at one point in the second quarter and turned that quarter-time deficit into a 42-39 lead by half-time.

After a bit of a rough start to the second half, the Slammers got stuck back into the fight and when they went on a 7-0 run, they regained the lead briefly, and were still only three points behind by three quarter-time.

However, if Willetton wants to keep touch with the top eight they couldn’t afford to drop a game to the bottom placed team and produced a dominant fourth quarter with 29 points to 15 to claim the hard earned 94-77 victory.

The big guns for Willetton all had their moments in the eventual win with Perth Wildcats development player Oliver Hayes-Brown an imposing presence against the undersized Slammers with 27 points, 10 rebounds and five assists on 13/22 shooting.

Damien Scott did what he's been doing for most of his 294-game career and put up 21 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals for Willetton.

Hunter Clarke contributed 12 points and nine boards, Travis Fee 11 points and two assists, Josh Ibukunoluwa 10 points and five rebounds, and 251-game veteran Michael Vigor nine points, six rebounds and four assists.

It was a competitive showing from South West with Buay Tuach finishing the night with 26 points, six rebounds and three assists on 11/17 shooting.

Brody England continues to progress 64 games into his career with 19 points and nine rebounds while Caleb Van De Griend finished with eight points and six boards, Lochlainn Simpson six points and three rebounds, and Cody Hill six points.