NBL1 West Recap | Thursday Men's Round 2

Huge plays from Ben Purser and Andrew Ferguson saw the defending NBL1 West Men's champion Perry Lakes Hawks snatch an Easter Thursday win from the East Perth Eagles with wins also for the Cockburn Cougars, Joondalup Wolves, Rockingham Flames, Mandurah Magic and Warwick Senators.

The tradition continues in the competition of having all games for the Easter Weekend played on the Thursday night and the six men's matches for Round 2 of the 2022 season produced some fascinating action.

Only the Goldfields Giants and Geraldton Buccaneers didn’t take part in the action in the second round of the competition for 2022.

All six games were in the same 8:30pm time slot on Thursday night and by the end of the evening, the Cougars, Wolves, Flames and Hawks all joined the Buccs and Giants as the men's teams yet to taste defeat in 2022 after two rounds.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Willetton Tigers, Lakeside Lightning, East Perth Eagles, South West Slammers and Kalamunda Eastern Suns all remain winless.

The thriller of the night took place at Herb Graham Recreation Centre with East Perth hosting the defending champion Perry Lakes. In the end, a huge three from Hawks captain Ben Purser and then a block from centre Andrew Ferguson saw them beat the Eagles 92-91 in a heartstopper.

Adam Thoseby finished with 17 points for Perry Lakes, Matt Leary 16, Cooper Hamilton 14, Purser 14 and Ferguson 13 to go with nine rebounds. Justin King made his first appearance with East Perth and put up 40 points and 10 rebounds.

Given the former Wolves contingent at Kalamunda, the Eastern Suns hosting Joondalup at Ray Owen Sports Centre was always going to be fascinating, but the Wolfpack proved too strong winning 80-62.

CJ Turnage put up 26 points to lead the Wolves while one of the former Wolfpack players at the Eastern Suns, Jacob Formosa, top-scored for his new team with 15 points.

The Mandurah Magic had to fight hard but got their first win of the season defeating the Lakeside Lightning 104-88 at Mandurah Aquatic Centre.

There's a host of former Lightning players at the Magic this season including Jay Bowie who had 16 points and Kyle Armour who had 16 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists, but it was young gun Riley Parker who top-scored with 22 points. Justin Bennett top-scored for the Lightning with 16 points.

The Warwick Senators welcomed back captain Cody Ellis and big man Ash Litterick and recorded their first win of the new season beating the Perth Redbacks 97-72 at Belmont Oasis.

Caleb Davis had 25 points for Warwick and Ellis 23 while Jerami Grace finished with 20 points for the Redbacks.

The South West Slammers can be proud of the fight they put up against the remarkably stacked Rockingham Flames, but in the end having a starting five of two multiple NBL championship winners, another two former NBL players and one of the league's all-time greats got Rockingham home.

The Flames won 103-91 with Devondrick Walker delivering 29 points and Marshall Nelson 26. Caleb Van De Griend produced another 20 points and 14 rebounds for the Slammers.

The Willetton Tigers started hot with 28 first-quarter points but only managed 35 more points the rest of the way with the Cockburn Cougars prevailing 71-63 at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

Carter Skaggs finished with 15 points for the Cougars and fellow import Paschal Chukwu 14 points and eight rebounds. Hunter Clarke put up 22 points for the Tigers.

NBL1 WEST – 2022 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 2 – THURSDAY NIGHT

EAST PERTH EAGLES 91 lost to PERRY LAKES HAWKS 92

What a game it turned out to be between the East Perth Eagles and Perry Lakes Hawks at Herb Graham Recreation Centre on Thursday night.

Perry Lakes opened their championship defence the previous Friday night with a narrow win over the Warwick Senators while the East Perth Eagles had a rough start losing by 44 points to the Cockburn Cougars, but what was to come on Thursday was a tremendous contest.

The Eagles welcomed former Senators import Justin King into their line-up for the first time and while they still have former Grand Final MVP Lee Roberts to come in as well, he made the world of difference.

In fact, the Eagles were right on track to score the upset win over the reigning champions before the dramatic finish to the contest.

Perry Lakes started well with 27 points to 19 in the opening quarter and while East Perth outscored them 27 to 24 in the second quarter, the Hawks were still on top 51-46 by half-time.

Perry Lakes was still leading 74-68 by three quarter-time until East Perth took over in the fourth quarter. Even though the Hawks were still up 83-75 with five and-a-half minutes left, the game was far from done.

Justin King hit the next five points and then with 1:30 on the clock, he drained a three ball to give the Eagles their first lead of the night.

Fabian Johnson then stretched East Perth's lead to two but the game wasn’t done. Perry Lakes captain Ben Purser hit the three after an Eagles turnover. Andrew Ferguson then blocked King's foray into the paint and the Hawks held on for the dramatic 92-91 victory.

Once again the key to the Hawks' victory was their depth and number of strong contributors they had on the night. Adam Thoseby put up 17 points, three rebounds and two assists with Matt Leary continuing his strong start to the season with 16 points, four boards and three steals.

Not only did the club's games record holder Ben Purser hit the game-winner but contributed 14 points, five rebounds and four assists with Andrew Ferguson adding 13 points and nine boards, and Cooper Hamilton 14 points and two steals.

Justin King made a stunning debut at East Perth with 40 points, 10 rebounds and six assists on 13/24 shooting from the floor, 5/9 from three-point territory and 9/10 at the foul line.

Logan Thwaites added 11 points and five rebounds for the Eagles, Kieran Berry 10 points and two boards, Mateo Campbell eight points and four rebounds, and James Bosnakis seven points.

 

KALAMUNDA EASTERN SUNS 62 lost to JOONDALUP WOLVES 80

A former championship winning coach and a host of former players tried to lead the Kalamunda Eastern Suns to a rare win over the Joondalup Wolves on Easter Thursday, but it wasn’t to be.

The Wolfpack have been a powerhouse in the competition over the past decade-plus and at the centre of a lot of that were Ben Ettridge as a dual championship winning coach who also took them to five successive Grand Finals.

Seb Salinas, Reece Maxwell and Rob Huntington were key members of those Wolves teams as well but they have all come together at the Eastern Suns in 2022 and Thursday night provided them the chance to take on their former team for the first time. 

However, the new-look Joondalup team for 2022 under the coaching of David Morrell started well with a first up road win over the Willetton Tigers and were keen to keep the momentum going on Thursday at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

The Wolfpack shot out of the blocks with the game's opening 13 points in a stunning start to the game. They went on to lead 27-9 by quarter-time and were never really headed from there.

While the Suns did outscore the Wolves 38 points to 31 over the next two quarters, Joondalup again pulled away in the fourth with another 22 points to 15 to come away with the eventual 80-62 victory.

After plying his trade impressively in South Australia, CJ Turnage has joined the NBL1 West competition this season and was outstanding again for the Wolves with 26 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals on 12/20 shooting.

Julian Pesava is another new Joondalup player this season having transferred from Cockburn and he finished with 11 points, seven assists and five rebounds with Jonathan Wade contributing eight points and seven boards, Mitch Newton eight points and four assists, and Tom Parkinson seven points and seven boards.

Another former Wolves player Jacob Formosa top-scored for the Eastern Suns with 15 points and five rebounds with Xavier Shaw adding 10 points and 16 boards, and Carl Aylett eight points.

 

MANDURAH MAGIC 104 defeated LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 88

The new faces at the Mandurah Magic enjoyed a win against their former Lakeside Lightning team at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre on Thursday night.

It has been an off-season of change at the Lightning following the departure of two-time Coach of the Year Dave Daniels with the experienced David Lindstrom a late call up for 2022 as his replacement.

Kyle Armour, Jay Bowie and Byron Pearson were three of the players to leave Lakeside and land in Mandurah for the 2022 season as well with former league MVP and Sydney Kings import Ray Turner on board as well for coach Aaron Trahair.

It was a tough opening weekend, though, for the Magic with losses to the Rockingham Flames and Geraldton Buccaneers while the Lightning lost in Kalgoorlie to the Goldfields Giants meaning both teams were hunting their first victories of the new season.

It was a hot opening to the game from both sides as they combined for 59 points in the first quarter with Mandurah leading 34-25 by quarter-time.

However, Lakeside took over the second period impressively with 28 points to 12 and that saw the visitors head into the half-time break leading 53-46.

Mandurah had to dig deep staring down an 0-3 start to the season and they were able to respond delivering an impressive second half outscoring Lakeside 58 points to 33 to start to click as a group and record the 104-88 victory.

Both teams were in love with shooting the three ball with the Magic knocking down 15/35 at 43 per cent while the Lightning went 14-39 at 36 per cent, but ultimately the difference was Mandurah going at 56.7 per cent from the field opposed to 40.3 per cent from the Lightning.

While some of the Magic veterans stepped up, it was young gun Riley Parker who stole the show with 22 points, three assists and three steals including knocking down 5/7 from three-point territory.

Ray Turner added 19 points, four boards and three assists for Mandurah, Jay Bowie 16 points, eight rebounds and five assists, Kyle Armour 16 points, 10 boards and eight assists, Christian Jurlina 11 points and Dequan Abrom 10 points, four assists, three rebounds and two assists.

Ben Lee delivered an impressive performance for the Lightning finishing with 19 points, three rebounds and two steals on shooting 4/9 from downtown.

Justin Bennell also went 4/9 from deep for 16 points while Nick Palleschi added 15 points, eight assists and four steals, Dom Jackson 15 points and four rebounds, and Majier Garang 10 points and nine boards.

 

PERTH REDBACKS 72 lost to WARWICK SENATORS 97

These two teams battled in the semi finals of last year and the Warwick Senators got a measure of revenge with an impressive Thursday night win at Belmont Oasis over the Perth Redbacks.

The Redbacks beat the Senators last year in the semi finals at Warwick Stadium to move into the preliminary final against the Perry Lakes Hawks while ending the season of the Senators.

There was a little bit of ill-feeling between the two teams after the game as well so the stage was set for a fascinating Round 2 battle with the Redbacks coming off an impressive opening round where they beat the Eastern Suns and South West Slammers by a combined 66 points.

The Senators lost first up in a tight one to the Hawks but welcomed back captain Cody Ellis and big man Ash Litterick on Thursday night with the Redbacks still missing key pair Zac Gattorna and Louis Timms.

It was a tight opening to the contest two with scores locked at 22-22 by the end of one before Warwick began to pull away in the second quarter with 24 points to 17 to lead 46-39 at the half.

The Senators then asserted their authority throughout the second half outscoring the Redbacks 51 points to 33 to end up winning 97-72 to open their account for 2022.

Warwick ended up collecting 42 rebounds to 32 including 14 offensive boards to eight from the Redbacks while the Senators forced Perth into 22 turnovers which helped them end up taking 11 extra field goals and they shot it at 50 per cent for the night.

Caleb Davis put up 25 points and eight rebounds for the Senators while shooting 4/11 from downtown while returning captain Cody Ellis put up 23 points and four steals after missing the opening round with a sore calf.

Ash Litterick also returned for Warwick with 11 points and four rebounds with Corban Wroe contributing 10 points and nine assists, George Pearl nine points and seven rebounds, and Bryan Michaels seven points and three boards.

Jerami Grace top-scored for the Redbacks with 20 points and three steals while Tevin Jackson contributed 18 points and four rebounds, and league's all-time assists leader Joel Wagner 10 points, three rebounds and two steals.

 

WILLETTON TIGERS 63 lost to COCKBURN COUGARS 71

The Cockburn Cougars overcame a slow start to remain undefeated early in the NBL1 West season with a Thursday night road victory over the Willetton Tigers.

The local rivals have made it a tradition to do battle on Easter Thursday and it was always going to be another fascinating contest at Willetton Basketball Stadium this time around.

The Tigers had been overrun back in Round 1 to lose to the Joondalup Wolves while the Cougars were emphatic first up at home last Friday beating the East Perth Eagles.

After scores were locked at 7-7 early on, the Tigers got rolling on their home floor scoring 23 of the next 25 points to suddenly lead 30-9 early in the second quarter.

It appeared that Willetton was on track to romp their way to a first victory of the season, but Cockburn was able to put the clamps on them the rest of the way and eventually work their way on top.

By half-time, Cockburn had cut Willetton's lead to 38-26 and then the Cougars were able to dominate the second half with 28 points to 11 in the third quarter, and another 17 to 14 in the fourth to claim the eventual 71-63 victory.

From the moment the Tigers led by 21 points early in the second quarter the Cougars outscored them 62 points to 33 the rest of the way to end up winning by eight.

Neither team had the best shooting nights with the Cougars going at 37.9 per cent from the field and the Tigers 37.5 while Cockburn shot 4/27 from downtown and Willetton 7/29.

However, Cockburn won the rebound count by five, forced Willetton into 19 turnovers and ended up controlling much of the last three quarters for the win.

New Cockburn import Carter Skaggs put up 15 points and two rebounds with fellow import Paschal Chukwu finishing with 14 points and eight rebounds.

Seva Chan added 13 points, five assists and four rebounds, Gavin Field 10 points and seven assists, and Keegan Phillips seven points and five boards.

Hunter Clarke top-scored for a Willetton team still minus Damien Scott and Michael Vigor with 22 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Connor Mincherton added 11 points and five rebounds for the Tigers, Travis Fee nine points and three boards, and Michael Garbellini eight points and three rebounds.

 

ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 103 defeated SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 91

The South West Slammers weren’t intimidated by the remarkable starting group of the Rockingham Flames and put in an improved showing on Thursday night at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

It was a rough start to the NBL1 West season for the Slammers in the opening round with losses to the Geraldton Buccaneers and Perth Redbacks by a combined 65 points, and there were fears for them coming into the Easter Thursday battle with the Flames.

Just one look at the Rockingham starting five and you can understand why with multiple NBL championship winners Tom Jervis and Greg Hire, recent NBL players Marshall Nelson and Devondrick Walker, and one of the Flames' greatest ever players, Ryan Godfrey.

However, throughout the whole evening the Slammers did a good job of producing a competitive effort and making the Flames have to play well to come away with the victory.

Rockingham managed to lead 28-20 by quarter-time and were able to extend that advantage to 52-39 by half-time on the back outscoring South West 24 points to 19 in the second period.

The Slammers were fighting hard, though, and the Flames only outscored them 27 points to 25 in the third quarter. The Slammers then won the last quarter 27 points to 24 with Rockingham going on to record the 103-91 victory.

While the Flames did pull down 57 rebounds to 43 from the Slammers, it was South West who took eight extra field goals for the game and actually shot the ball better overall at 44 per cent opposed to 42.

However, the Flames knocked down 18/48 from three-point range with the Slammers going 7/27. South West can take credit, though, for also forcing Rockingham into the 22 turnovers.

Former South East Melbourne Phoenix NBL import Devondrick Walker was impressive for the Flames delivering 29 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals while knocking down 9/20 from beyond the arc.

Fresh off an NBL stint at the Cairns Taipans, Marshall Nelson put up 26 points, eight rebounds and two assists for Rockingham too on 4/7 shooting from deep.

Tom Jervis added 16 points and 17 rebounds, Ryan Godfrey 12 points and three boards, Greg Hire four points, six rebounds and two assists, and Callum Beard eight points and four boards.

Caleb Van De Griend was again tremendously impressive for the Slammers with 20 points and 14 rebounds while Buay Tuach contributed 19 points, five rebounds, five steals and four assists, and Brody England 16 points, three boards and two assists.