NBL1 West Recap | Saturday Men's Round 3

The Cockburn Cougars, Geraldton Buccaneers and Goldfields Giants all scored Saturday night Round 3 NBL1 West Men's victories to continue their undefeated starts to the 2022 season.

Round 3 in the NBL1 West Men's competition for 2022 began on Friday night with the Joondalup Wolves defeating the Perry Lakes Hawks 80-68 and the Mandurah Magic beating the Perth Redbacks 84-77.

The Warwick Senators also marked their first home game of the season beating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 102-93 while the Rockingham Flames overcame the Lakeside Lightning 99-91.

That led into the three matches on Saturday night beginning with the Cockburn Cougars continuing their strong start to the 2022 season by beating the South West Slammers 87-64 at Eaton Recreation Centre.

Gavin Field delivered 26 points for the Cougars on 6/8 shooting from downtown with Carter Skaggs adding 20 points and Josh Hunt 14. Buay Tuach put up 22 points, five rebounds and three assists for the Slammers.

The Geraldton Buccaneers also maintained their winning start to the 2022 campaign beating the still winless Willetton Tigers 97-64 at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

Shaun Stewart was impressive for the Buccs with 26 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists with Cameron Coleman adding 20 points and Malik Meunier 13. Michael Vigor made his first appearance of the season for Willetton with 20 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Last up on Saturday night was the Goldfields Giants also winning their second game of the 2022 season beating the East Perth Eagles 94-62 at Herb Graham Recreation Centre.

Jesse Ghee produced 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the Giants, and Hussayn Ford 14 points and 11 boards. Mateo Campbell delivered 10 points and seven rebounds for the Eagles.

Round 3 of the NBL1 West Men's season continues with two more matches on Sunday afternoon with the Cockburn Cougars hosting the Goldfields Giants at Wally Hagan Stadium, and the Lakeside Lightning taking on the Geraldton Buccaneers at Lakeside Recreation Centre.

The round then wraps up on Monday afternoon with the now traditional fixture between the Kalamunda Eastern Suns and Willetton Tigers at Ray Owen Sports Centre with both teams hunting their first victories of 2022.

NBL1 WEST – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 3 – SATURDAY NIGHT

WILLETTON TIGERS 64 lost to GERALDTON BUCCANEERS 97

The Willetton Tigers were on their home floor hunting a first win of the 2022 season, but it wasn’t to be against the Geraldton Buccaneers on Saturday night.

After finishing last season in third position at the end of the regular season, the Tigers opened 2022 by losing to the Joondalup Wolves by nine points in Round 1 and then the Cockburn Cougars by eight points on Easter Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Buccs have started the new season impressively with Round 1 road wins over the South West Slammers and Mandurah Magic.

So the Tigers were looking for their first win of the season on Saturday night at Willetton Basketball Stadium while the Buccaneers were out to make it a third consecutive win.

Geraldton started strongly even with Willetton regaining the services of Michael Vigor for the first time this season. The Buccs led 24-14 by quarter-time but the Tigers were able to make a game of it in the second quarter with 25 points to 19 to cut Geraldton's lead to 43-39 at the major break.

The Buccaneers were able to dominate the second half, though, with another 54 points to just 25 from Willetton to see Geraldton run out 97-64 winners to improve to 3-0 on the season while sending the Tigers to 0-3.

Geraldton dominated the glass with 49 rebounds to 35 including 16 offensive boards to nine. The Buccs also shot 50 per cent from the field opposed to just 37.3 per cent from the home team.

There were plenty of impressive performances in the win again for the Buccs with Shaun Stewart putting up 26 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and two steals.

Fellow import Cameron Coleman finished with 20 points with Malik Meunier contributing 13 points, three rebounds and three steals, Mathiang Muo 12 points, five boards and four assists, and Fletcher Klasztorny nine points, four rebounds and two steals.

Michael Vigor made an immediate impact in his first game of the season for Willetton with the big man delivering 20 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Travis Fee added 11 points and six rebounds for the Tigers, Josh Ibukunoluwa 15 points, six boards and three blocked shots, and Hunter Clarke four points, six rebounds and three assists.

EAST PERTH EAGLES 62 lost to GOLDFIELDS GIANTS 94

The East Perth Eagles were still yet to taste victory in 2022 and the Goldfields Giants defeat coming into Saturday night's contest at Herb Graham Recreation Centre.

East Perth opened up the season losing by 44 points to the Cockburn Cougars and then in heartbreaking fashion by a point to the Perry Lakes Hawks on Easter Thursday.

The Giants had only played the one game coming into Saturday night and that was a win at home over the Lakeside Lightning back in Round 1.

So with East Perth chasing a first win and Goldfields a second, the stage was set for a fascinating contest and it was the Eagles who started strongly putting up 31 points to 15 in the opening period.

The Giants added another 24 points to 17 in the second quarter and that saw the visitors go into the half-time break leading 55-32.

Goldfields consolidated their advantage in the third quarter with another 20 points to 10 to end up recording the 94-62 win to improve to 2-0 on the season while East Perth fell to 0-3.

The Giants pulled in 55 rebounds to 45 on the night while they forced the Eagles into 19 turnovers and had only the 10 themselves having taken good care of the ball on the way to the 32-point win.

Jesse Ghee put up 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the Giants with Hussayn Ford contributing 14 points, 11 rebounds and three assists.

Mayo Malek added 12 points and five rebounds with Marshal Destremau contributing 12 points and 10 boards, Jerome Reid nine points, four rebounds and three steals, and Gairges Daow eight points.

Mateo Campbell finished with 10 points and seven rebounds for East Perth with Justin King struggling after his 40-point game last Thursday. He had just six points, eight rebounds and three assists on 1/15 shooting.

Elijah Pawson finished with nine points and three boards for the Eagles, Corey McCullaugh seven points, Logan Thwaites six points and eight rebounds, Nathan Drown six points, and Kieran Berry six points and four assists.

SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 64 lost to COCKBURN COUGARS 87

The Cockburn Cougars travelled to Eaton Recreation Centre on Saturday and put their undefeated record on the line against the South West Slammers.

The Cougars have started the new season impressively with wins against the East Perth Eagles and Willetton Tigers, and while the Slammers had lost to the Geraldton Buccaneers, Perth Redbacks and Rockingham Flames, their last up performance on the road to Rockingham was vastly improved.

The Slammers were then able to make a game of by remaining competitive with the Cougars only holding a one-point advantage heading into quarter-time.

Cockburn was able to pull away during the second period with 26 points to 14 from South West and that saw the Cougars in control leading 45-32 at the half-time break.

The Cougars then put the game out of reach in the third period with 27 more points to 17 on the way to the eventual 87-64 to improve to a perfect 3-0 record on the season while the Slammers slipped to 0-4.

The major difference between the two teams was just in their shooting. The Cougars went at 48.4 per cent from the floor and then hit 14/29 from three-point range at 48.3 per cent. The Slammers shot 36.8 per cent from the field and went 3/16 at 18.8 per cent from beyond the arc.

Gavin Field is already an all-time great of the Cougars but is showing no signs of slowing down and continued his strong start to the 2022 season with 26 points on 6/8 shooting from beyond the arc.

Carter Skaggs added 20 points and seven rebounds for Cockburn while knocking down 6/9 from three-point range with Josh Hunt contributing 14 points and three rebounds, Seva Chan eight points and six assists, and Paschal Chukwu six points, five boards, five blocks, two assists and two steals.

Buay Tuach had an impressive performance for the Slammers with 22 points, five rebounds and three assists while shooting 7/13 from the floor and 7/8 from the charity stripe.

Caleb Van De Griend also had 13 points and nine rebounds for South West, Cody Hill 10 points and four boards, and Lochlann Simpson five points and five rebounds.