NBL1 West Recap | Men's Saturday Round 14

It was a remarkable night in the NBL1 West Men's competition with the Lakeside Lightning stunning the Warwick Senators in overtime while Devondrick Walker and Marshall Nelson helped the Rockingham Flames overcome Gavin Field, Carter Skaggs and the Cockburn Cougars in a classic.

The winners in Saturday night's NBL1 West action were the Lakeside Lightning, Rockingham Flames, Goldfields Giants, Geraldton Buccaneers and East Perth Eagles.

Round 14 in the NBL1 West Men's competition began on Friday night with the Cockburn Cougars defeating the Lakeside Lightning 91-83 while the Joondalup Wolves beat the Perth Redbacks 87-84 and the Rockingham Flames downed the Perry Lakes Hawks 104-79.

The Mandurah Magic also beat the South West Slammers 105-86 and the Warwick Senators won a heart stopper 89-88 against the Willetton Tigers.

Then on Saturday night, the East Perth Eagles inflicted some more pain on the Willetton Tigers with a 75-67 win at Herb Graham Recreation Centre.

Sergio Soarez and Lee Roberts both scored 17 points in the win for East Perth with Connor Mincherton returning for Willetton and delivering 14 points.

The Geraldton Buccaneers maintained their hold on top spot ahead of Sunday's clash with the Wolfpack by beating the Perry Lakes Hawks 110-77 at Bendat Basketball Centre.

Cameron Coleman produced 25 points for Geraldton, Shaun Stewart 20 and Malik Meunier 18. Matt Leary top-scored for Perry Lakes with 20 points despite not hitting a three-pointer.

It was a stunning overtime battle at Warwick Stadium with Warwick Senators captain Cody Ellis saving his team once with a huge three to force overtime, but in the extra period the Lakeside Lightning delivered.

Huge threes from Landon Taliaferro and Dom Jackson sealed the 108-101 victory with Taliaferro finishing with 28 points for Lakeside and Donnie Vaughn 19 points to go with 10 rebounds. Ellis had 22 points and nine boards for Warwick, and Caleb Davis 21 points.

It was quite the spectacle at Wally Hagan Stadium in a match that will be tough to beat as the game of the NBL1 West season. 

There were huge performances and standout plays galore, but in the end a massive triple from Greg Hire and some strong plays late saw the Rockingham Flames beat the Cockburn Cougars 118-111.

Devondrick Walker delivered 39 points and eight assists for the Flames and Marshall Nelson 28 points and 10 rebounds with the pair combining to shoot 11/19 from downtown.

Gavin Field produced 26 points and six assists for Cockburn with seven triples while Carter Skaggs added 19 points and four three-point bombs.

The Goldfields Giants further consolidated their hold on a playoff position beating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 92-62 on Saturday night in Kalgoorlie.

Hamish Cummings and Hussayn Ford both scored 16 points for the Giants, Gairges Daow 15 points and Mayo Malek 14. Albert Almanza top-scored for Kalamunda with 19 points.

Round 14 will wrap up on Sunday afternoon at HBF Arena with the top two teams locking horns with the Joondalup Wolves at home to the Geraldton Buccaneers in a rematch of the 2019 Grand Final.

NBL1 WEST – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 14 – SATURDAY NIGHT

PERRY LAKES HAWKS 77 lost to GERALDTON BUCCANEERS 110

The Geraldton Buccaneers got some much needed time on the court they will hope to play in a Grand Final on later this season by beating the Perry Lakes Hawks by 33 points on Saturday night.

The Hawks were back home at Bendat Basketball Centre on Saturday night to host the league leading Buccaneers in a match up against two of the last three championship winning teams.

Perry Lakes were coming off a tough loss to Rockingham on Friday night to open Round 14 in a Grand Final rematch while Geraldton arrived to start a big road weekend needing to keep winning to maintain their hold on top spot.

The Buccs didn’t need much time to work their way on top and by quarter-time the 2019 champions and current league-leaders led the reigning title winners 30-23 by the end of one.

Geraldton pulled away further in the second quarter by opening up a 16-point lead and going on to lead 61-47 by the half-time break.

The Buccs then held the Hawks to just the nine points in the third quarter and they scored another 23 themselves to see their lead grow to as much as 28 points.

Geraldton's lead then grew to 38 points in the last quarter and they ended up scoring the 110-77 victory.

The win improves the Buccaneers to a 15-2 record in top spot ahead of a tantalising match up with the second placed Joondalup Wolves on Sunday at HBF Arena. The Hawks fall to 8-9 following their two losses in Round 14.

It was an impressive shooting night from Geraldton as they went 53.4 per cent from the floor as a team while Perry Lakes just shot 40.9. The Buccs also took 14 extra shots while forcing the Hawks into 19 turnovers.

Cameron Coleman delivered 25 points, four rebounds, four assists and four steals for the Buccs on 9/13 shooting with Shaun Stewart adding 20 points and four assists, and Malik Meunier 18 points, three boards, three assists and two steals.

Fletcher Klasztorny also had 13 points, five assists and four rebounds, Johny Narkle 13 points and seven boards, and the returning Mathiang Muo 10 points, seven rebounds and four steals.

Matt Leary top-scored for Perry Lakes with 20 points, four rebounds and three steals with Lewis Thomas contributing 12 points, four boards and three assists, Andrew Ferguson 11 points and eight rebounds, and Jack Isenbarger nine points with 3/4 shooting from downtown.

 

EAST PERTH EAGLES 75 defeated WILLETTON TIGERS 67

The East Perth Eagles continued their improved form and inflicted some more pain on the Willetton Tigers with an eight-point win on Saturday night.

East Perth played host to Willetton at Herb Graham Recreation Centre and the Eagles were able to continue their improved recent stretch of form with Lee Roberts and Shaquille Maharaj joining Justin King in the line-up.

Willetton suffered another cruel blow to their fading playoff hopes with a nail-biting loss at home to the Warwick Senators on Friday night and if they were to be any chance still, they had to bounce back on Saturday.

It was a tight first quarter with Willetton narrowly leading 15-14 by quarter-time before the Tigers got right on top in the second period with 29 points to 13 to open up a 17-point gap, and to still lead 44-27 by half-time.

However, the game underwent a dramatic turnaround after half-time and East Perth shut down Willetton and found some offence themselves to work their way on top.

As a result the Eagles scored 15 straight points and ended up outscoring the Tigers 23 points to nine for the quarter to be just three points down at three quarter-time.

The Eagles kept their momentum going with another 12-0 run in the final term to overrun the Tigers with another 25 points to 14 to end up winning 75-67.

It's a fourth win of the season for East Perth to improve them to a 4-13 record on the season while the Tigers slip further from a finals spot at 6-12.

Lee Roberts finished with 17 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists for East Perth with Sergio Soarez producing his best performance with 17 points, nine boards and three steals.

Justin King added 12 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals, Jarrad Anastasio 11 points and eight boards, and Elijah Pawson seven points, five steals, three assists and two rebounds.

Usual starting point guard Connor Mincherton was back in the line-up for Willetton and produced 14 points, two rebounds and two steals with Travis Fee adding 11 points and five boards, Damien Scott 11 points and four rebounds, and Michael Vigor eight points to go with 10 boards and four assists.

 

WARWICK SENATORS 101 lost to LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 108

The Lakeside Lightning continued their run of being part of dramatic overtime match ups with another one against the Warwick Senators on Saturday night, and this time they prevailed.

The Senators were back home at Warwick Stadium on the back of sneaking through for a Friday night win against the Willetton Tigers while the Lightning had lost a tight one to the Cockburn Cougars as well.

The Lightning might not be fighting for a playoff spot, but are still looking to build some momentum to close the season with while the Senators need to keep winning to stay in the top two hunt, and to remain in the top four.

That set the stage for the Saturday night match up and Warwick started well to open up a 13-point lead during the first term and to end up leading still 34-26 by quarter-time.

Lakeside, though, was able to turn the tide in the second term and build some momentum heading into half-time even if Warwick still clung to a 54-51 advantage.

Eventually the Lightning caught fire late in the fourth term with a succession of three-pointers from Ben Lee and Donnie Vaughn to see them tie scores up at 89-89 with just under three minutes to play.

A Majier Garang and-one play then put Lakeside on top before George Pearl responded with a triple for the Senators. Ben Fairclough and Cody Ellis then traded three-point bombs and the game went to overtime.

Warwick went out to an early four-point lead in the extra period thanks to triples from Caleb Davis and Kyle Zunic, but it was all Lakeside from there and ultimately huge triples from Dom Jackson and Landon Taliaferro sealed the 108-101 victory.

Landon Taliaferro had a huge performance for the Lightning with 28 points and three assists on shooting 12/26 overall and 4/13 from deep.

Donnie Vaughn added 19 points and 10 rebounds for Lakeside, Ben Lee 17 points, seven boards, three assists and three steals on 5/9 shooting from deep, and Dom Jackson 14 points and six boards with 4/7 long-range shooting.

Captain Nick Palleschi added nine points, six rebounds and five assists, Majier Garang eight points, 11 boards and four assists, and Ben Fairclough eight points.

Cody Ellis ended the night with 22 points, nine rebounds, three blocks and two steals for Warwick while hitting 4/9 from three-point land.

Caleb Davis added 21 points, six rebounds and three assists, Kyle Zunic 18 points, eight assists and five boards, George Pearl 16 points, seven rebounds and three steals, and Perth Wildcats big man Majok Majok 14 points and 11 rebounds.

 

COCKBURN COUGARS 111 lost to ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 118

The Cockburn Cougars and Rockingham Flames played out quite the remarkable and high-quality contest at Wally Hagan Stadium on Saturday night.

Both teams came into the clash having played on Friday night with Cockburn winning a tight one against the Lakeside Lightning while Rockingham were emphatic winning their Grand Final rematch with the Perry Lakes Hawks by 25 points.

With the Flames trying to break into a top two position and the Cougars looking to finish as high up in the top eight as they could as well, the stage was set for a tantalising battle.

The two teams combined for 60 points in the first quarter and Rockingham ended up leading 32-28 by quarter-time.

Rockingham opened up a handy lead during the second quarter with superstars Marshall Nelson and Devondrick Walker catching fire. The Flames scored 12 straight points at one stage to end up leading by 10, but by half-time it was a close one still with the visitors up 54-51.

It was then quite the remarkable third quarter with Gavin Field inspiring the Cougars to grab the lead and then to end up grabbing a 10-point edge.

The Cougars would score 37 points to 32 for the quarter and that saw them take an 88-86 advantage into the fourth quarter.

It was then a last quarter for the stars to step up and make huge plays.

A triple from Field pushed Cockburn back out to a five-point lead with seven minutes to play before Walker went on a 7-2 run for the Flames that was only intercepted by a Paschal Chukwu flush for the Cougars.

That left scores level before Travis Durnin put Rockingham back on top and ultimately it was a three-pointer to Greg Hire ahead of him representing Australia in 3x3 at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham that proved the dagger blow.

That put Rockingham up four and in the end a couple of finishes at the rim from Nelson saw Rockingham come away with the 118-111 victory.

Highlighting the quality of the contest was the fact that Rockingham shot at 54.6 per cent for the night and Cockburn 50.6 while the Flames nailed 16/34 from three-point range and the Cougars 18/44.

Devondrick Walker was brilliant for the Flames with 39 points, eight assists, five steals and three rebounds while shooting 12/24 from the field, 7/13 from downtown and 8/10 from the charity stripe.

Marshall Nelson added 28 points and 10 rebounds for Rockingham while nailing 4/6 from three with Ryan Godfrey delivering 18 points, Tom Jervis 10 points, five rebounds and three assists, and Greg Hire seven points, six boards and three assists.

Gavin Field delivered 26 points, six assists, three rebounds and two steals for Cockburn on the back of knocking down 7/14 from three-point land.

Carter Skaggs hit 4/11 from deep on his way to 19 points, three rebounds and three assists while Paschal Chukwu put up 18 points and 13 rebounds.

Kegan Phillips also produced 17 points for the Cougars, Luke Phillips 11 points, and Seva Chan nine points, 13 assists and five rebounds.

 

GOLDFIELDS GIANTS 92 defeated KALAMUNDA EASTERN SUNS 62

The Goldfields Giants kept themselves right in the race for a top four finish with a 30-point win at home against the Kalamunda Eastern Suns on Saturday night.

The Giants were back home in Kalgoorlie at Niels Hansen Basketball Stadium having won their past three matches ahead of hosting an Eastern Suns team with three wins for the season and having lost their previous three.

Goldfields worked their way on top early with a 9-0 run during the first quarter on their way to leading by 11 after one.

The Giants then scored 15 points in succession during the second term to end up leading by as much as 20 and being in control at half-time 47-27.

The Eastern Suns did fire back during the third quarter with 24 points to 17 to be back within 13 at three quarter-time, but the Giants responded with another 28 points to 11 in the fourth quarter to end up winning 92-62.

The result improves the Giants to a 12-5 record on the season to put them right in the mix for a top four finish while the Eastern Suns are now 3-14.

Goldfields ended up collecting 52 rebounds to 33 from Kalamunda while shooting 51.4 per cent from the field opposed to 34.3 from the Suns.

Hamish Cummings delivered 16 points on 4/5 shooting from downtown for the Giants with Hussayn Ford adding 16 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and two steals.

Gairges Daow contributed 15 points, eight rebounds and five assists, Mayo Malek 14 points and 10 boards, Damon Ballantyne 12 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds, and Lafonzo Smith seven points, five boards, three assists and two blocks.

Albert Almanza ended up top-scoring for Kalamunda with 19 points and three rebounds while connecting on 5/9 from three-point range.

Brendan Dinardo added 12 points, three rebounds and two assists, Rob Huntington eight points and seven boards, and Jacob Formosa six points and five rebounds.