NBL1 West Recap | Men's Saturday Week 1 Finals

The Warwick Senators kept their NBL1 West Men's season alive as did the Goldfields Giants on Saturday night while the Geraldton Buccaneers and Rockingham Flames booked in hosting rights for next weekend's preliminary finals.

All four of the Week 1 finals action in the NBL1 West took place on Saturday night and it turned out to be quite the dramatic evening with the seasons ending for the Perry Lakes Hawks and Mandurah Magic, extending for the Senators and Giants, and advancing for the Buccs and Flames.

Things got underway with the elimination finals and at Warwick Stadium, the Warwick Senators proved too strong for the defending champion Perry Lakes Hawks to end up winning 93-61.

Caleb Davis continued his career-best season with another 20 points, nine rebounds and six assists with the Senators continuing to do it without captain Cody Ellis.

Last year's Grand Final MVP Andrew Ferguson produced 25 points and 11 rebounds in the loss for Perry Lakes.

The thriller of the evening took place in Kalgoorlie and it was the home team Goldfields Giants winning a nail-biter 78-76 against the Mandurah Magic to keep their season alive.

Gairges Daow was terrific in the win for the Giants with 26 points, seven rebounds and four assists while Jesse Ghee knocked down four three-pointers on his way to 18 points.

Dequan Abrom capped off his tremendous season for Mandurah with 21 points, 12 rebounds and six assists.

The regular season champion Geraldton Buccaneers blew the Cockburn Cougars away early on Saturday night at a sold out Active West Stadium in the qualifying final.

More than 1000 fans were crammed into the building and weren’t disappointed with the Buccs winning 101-70 on the back of 39 points and 10 rebounds from Cameron Coleman.

Gavin Field top-scored once more for Cockburn with 18 points, three assists and two blocked shots.

While still hoping for the return of Marshall Nelson over the last two weeks of the finals, the Rockingham Flames kept winning without him beating the Joondalup Wolves 86-77 at home on Saturday night in the qualifying final.

MVP Devondrick Walker delivered 27 points with five three-pointers for Rockingham with Tom Jervis superb again as the floor general centre with 15 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists.

Julian Pesava put up 27 points with six triples for Joondalup while CJ Turnage contributed 17 points and 12 rebounds.

That sets up a tantalising second week of NBL1 West finals which begins on Thursday night with the Cockburn Cougars hosting the Warwick Senators. Then on Friday night, the Joondalup Wolves host the Goldfields Giants.

The winner of the Cougars-Senators clash will take on the Rockingham Flames in a preliminary final on Saturday while the winner between the Wolves and Giants will take on the Geraldton Buccaneers in Geraldton on Sunday.

NBL1 WEST – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
WEEK 1 FINALS – SATURDAY NIGHT

QUALIFYING FINALS
GERALDTON BUCCANEERS 101 defeated COCKBURN COUGARS 70

The Geraldton Buccaneers blew the Cockburn Cougars away early in their qualifying final on Saturday night on the way to an eventual 31-point victory.

The two teams had played two fascinating match ups throughout the regular season with Geraldton coming from behind to win at home over Cockburn in the first clash before the Cougars handed the Buccs their first defeat of 2022 down at Wally Hagan Stadium.

Geraldton went on to claim the regular season championship with a 19-3 record to earn the right to host the qualifying final at Active West Stadium on Saturday night against a Cougars team who ended the regular season on a five-game winning streak in fourth spot at 15-7.

It was a large and vocal home crowd of more than 1000 people in the building to cheer on the Buccs on Saturday night and they liked what they saw from the outset.

After Cockburn led by four in the opening stages, Geraldton took right over the contest in stunning fashion to deliver 16 consecutive points to open up a 17-point lead already by quarter-time.

It was more of the same in the early stages of the second quarter and scoring seven straight points again saw the lead balloon to 30 points, and really the game was over as a contest by that stage.

The margin stayed at a similar level for most of the rest of the evening with the Buccaneers going on to cruise to the 101-70 victory.

The result means that the Buccs will now host a preliminary final this coming Sunday against either the Joondalup Wolves or Goldfields Giants.

The Cougars still have a second chance to reach a preliminary final by hosting the Warwick Senators in a semi-final this Thursday night.

Cameron Coleman was the star of the evening for the Buccaneers delivering a season-best performance made up of 39 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and two assists on shooting 14/24 from the field and 9/10 from the foul line.

Mathiang Muo stepped up strongly too for Geraldton with 20 points and five rebounds with Shaun Stewart contributing 13 points, six boards, five assists and four steals.

Johny Narkle also produced nine points and seven rebounds with Malike Meunier adding seven points, three rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Gavin Field did what he could to try and will Cockburn back into the contest finishing with 18 points and three assists on shooting 4/8 from long-range.

Luke Phillips continued his impressive second half to the season for Cockburn as well with another 13 points and four rebounds with Seva Chan contributing 12 points and five assists, Paschal Chukwu eight points and 12 rebounds, and Carter Skaggs seven points and five boards.

 

ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 86 defeated JOONDALUP WOLVES 77

The Rockingham Flames were able to keep their imposing form going to move to within one win of another Grand Final appearance with Saturday night's nine-point win against the Joondalup Wolves.

Coming off losing last year's Grand Final to the Perry Lakes Hawks, the Flames have thrown everything into giving themselves another chance at that elusive first Men's championship in 2022.

While Marshall Nelson still wasn’t there on Saturday night for the qualifying final against the Wolves at Mike Barnett Sports Complex, they did welcome back Commonwealth Games silver medallist Greg Hire, and put on a strong showing for their home fans.

Rockingham finished the regular season in second spot at 18-4 with Joondalup third at 16-6, and it was a tight opening to the contest with the visiting Wolfpack leading narrowly 22-20 by the end of the first period.

The Wolves then turned that into pulling away during the second quarter to lead by as much as 12 points, and to outscore the Flames 29 points to 21 to head into the half-time break leading 51-41.

The Flames had to dig deep to avoid a first up loss on their home floor and they turned it on in the third quarter. Rockingham went on a run of scoring 13 straight points to turn that double-figure deficit into a lead.

Rockingham went on with the job from there to end up winning 86-77 and book in a home preliminary final this Saturday night against either the Cockburn Cougars or Warwick Senators.

The Wolves will now host a semi-final on Friday night against the Goldfields Giants with the winner to take on Geraldton in a preliminary final on Sunday.

Rockingham ended up with quite the dominance on the boards collecting 55 rebounds to 36 for the game while getting to the foul line 25 times opposed to 12 from the Wolves.

MVP Devondrick Walker produced another standout performance for the Flames with 27 points, five rebounds and two assists while hitting 5/11 from three-point range.

Ryan Godfrey added 19 points, five rebounds and four assists for Rockingham, Tom Jervis 15 points, 14 boards, seven assists and two blocked shots, Travis Durnin seven points, five rebounds and three assists, and Justin Beard seven points, five boards and three assists.

Julian Pesava had an especially strong start to the game for the Wolfpack on his way to 27 points, three rebounds and two assists while shooting 6/11 from three-point territory.

CJ Turnage added 17 points, 12 rebounds and four assists for Joondalup, Jonathan Wade 12 points, nine boards, four assists and three steals, Maris Colton nine points and three rebounds, and Joel Vaiangina nine points, four boards and three blocked shots.

 

ELIMINATION FINALS
WARWICK SENATORS 93 defeated PERRY LAKES HAWKS 61

It's quite the rivalry that has built up between the Warwick Senators and Perry Lakes Hawks, and they put their seasons on the line against one another at Warwick Stadium on Saturday night.

The two teams played off in the Grand Final of the West Coast Classic back in 2020 with the Senators prevailing on that occasion but Perry Lakes hit back to win last year's NBL1 West championship.

Warwick then closed the 2022 regular season in fifth position with a 14-8 record with the reigning champion Perry Lakes ending up eighth at 12-10.

That saw the Senators play host to the Hawks in the elimination final on Saturday night and despite Warwick still missing star captain Cody Ellis, they worked their way on top quickly into the contest.

The Senators blew the Hawks away early in the contest and by quarter-time had already developed a 25-10 advantage.

That set the tone for the evening and the Senators never looked back.

They built that lead to 16 points during the second quarter and then blew it out to 32 in the third quarter before going on to win 93-61.

The Senators now advance to a semi-final match up this Thursday night against the Cockburn Cougars with the winner of that to go on to play the Rockingham Flames in a preliminary final on Saturday night.

It was an impressive all-round showing from the Senators with Caleb Davis continuing his career-best season which saw him named to the All-First Team with another 20 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

George Pearl added 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists with Kyle Zunic contributing 15 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists,, Bryan Michaels 11 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals, and Jay Thwaites nine points and six rebounds.

Last year's Grand Final MVP Andrew Ferguson put up 25 points and 11 rebounds for Perry Lakes with Ben Purser contributing 10 points, seven rebounds and three assists, and Ryan Smith eight points and four assists. 

 

GOLDFIELDS GIANTS 78 defeated MANDURAH MAGIC 76

The seasons of the Goldfields Giants and Mandurah Magic went on the line in Kalgoorlie on Saturday night, and it proved out to be quite the tense and fascinating battle.

The Giants finished the regular season in sixth position with a 14-8 record despite losing their past three matches while the Magic finished seventh at 13-9 despite having had a changeover as coach with Jamie O'Loughlin replacing Aaron Trahair early in the campaign.

That set the stage for an elimination final on Saturday night at Niels Hansen Basketball Stadium, and no more than eight points separated the two teams the entire evening.

Goldfields did lead by six early on but then Mandurah fired back with their own run of seven points to take a narrow 13-12 lead into quarter-time.

Neither team could break away in the second quarter either and by half-time it was the Magic clinging to a 30-29 advantage.

The Giants did manage to turn it on in the third quarter by outscoring the Magic 30 points to 24 to open up a seven-point lead, and the lead did get out to as much as eight in the fourth term with just over three minutes on the clock.

A three-pointer from Riley Parker did give the Magic a late sniff bringing them back within three points but the Giants ended up having enough of the answers to end up winning 78-76 in a nail-biting finish.

The victory sees the Giants move into a semi-final this coming Friday night against the Joondalup Wolves at HBF Arena with the winner to then take on the Geraldton Buccaneers in Geraldton on Sunday.

Gairges Daow delivered a terrific performance in the win for Goldfields with 26 points, seven rebounds and four assists on shooting 11/18 from the field.

Jesse Ghee added 18 points, five assists, three steals and three rebounds for the Giants, Lafonzo Smith 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocks, Hussayn Ford eight points, seven boards and four assists, and Hamish Cummings eight points and two assists.

Dequan Abrom had an outstanding first season with the Magic and he capped that off on Saturday night with another 21 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and two steals.

Christian Jurlina added 16 points and four rebounds, Riley Parker 14 points, five boards and two assists on shooting 4/5 from downtown, Ray Turner 10 points and seven rebounds, and Jay Bowie nine points and five assists.