NBL1 West Recap | Tuesday Men's Round 7

The Perry Lakes Hawks continued their dominant start to the 2021 NBL1 West Men's Division season on Tuesday night thrashing a disappointing Joondalup Wolves by 31 points at Bendat Basketball Centre.

There was every reason to expect the Tuesday night battle to be a tremendous one between two in-form teams having already record emphatic victories in Round 7 across the weekend.

Perry Lakes was coming back from a big win in Geraldton while Joondalup had won on the road to East Perth, but it proved to be anything but the case with an emphatic win for the Hawks on their home court.

Round 7 in the NBL1 West Men's Division began back on Friday night with the lone fixture at Herb Graham Recreation Centre which saw the Joondalup Wolves win big over the East Perth Eagles, 94-61.

It was then a big night of action on Saturday across the competition starting with the Perry Lakes Hawks hitting the road to Geraldton and coming away with the 90-63 victory over the Buccaneers.

The Mandurah Magic then defeated the Perth Redbacks 82-74, the Willetton Tigers won a thriller 74-73 against the Goldfields Giants, and the Lakeside Lightning handed the Warwick Senators their first loss of the season with the 90-61 victory at Warwick Stadium.

The Rockingham Flames beat the Cockburn Cougars 106-85 while the South West Slammers made it two wins on the trot beating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 90-80 on the road.

That all led into the Tuesday night fixture at Bendat Basketball Centre with the Perry Lakes Hawks going on to beat the Joondalup Wolves 118-87.

NBL1 WEST – 2021 MEN'S SEASON
ROUND 7 – TUESDAY NIGHT

PERRY LAKES HAWKS 118 defeated JOONDALUP WOLVES 87

The Perry Lakes Hawks sent quite the statement with their second massive win of Round 7 in the NBL1 Men's Division on Tuesday night as they dismantled the Joondalup Wolves to the tune of 31 points.

The Hawks and Wolves met most recently in an SBL Grand Final at the same Bendat Basketball Centre venue only back in 2018 before also locking horns in the 2019 semi finals, and then again in a semi-final match up in last year's West Coast Classic.

So the two teams are no strangers to one another especially playing in big matches and Tuesday night shaped as being another tantalising match up in their first meeting in the NBL1 West competition.

The Wolfpack came into the game fresh off beating the East Perth Eagles away from home as well on Friday night 94-61 while the Hawks hit the road to Geraldton on Saturday night and came away with the 90-63 triumph before gearing up to host Joondalup on Tuesday evening.

However, right from the outset it was the Hawks who were clearly ready to put together a statement performance even if they were without starting big man Lewis Thomas.

That was offset with the Wolves missing their own veteran big Rob Huntington, but it didn’t take long for Perry Lakes to stamp their authority all over the contest.

They went on a 9-0 run during the opening quarter to lead 20-10 and the tone was set for the rest of the evening with Perry Lakes opening up a 30-17 lead by quarter-time.

A pair of three-point bombs from Ryan Smith saw that lead stretch to 17 points for the Hawks during the second quarter, and it was become far too easy much to the frustration of Wolves coach Andrew Summerville.

Matt Leary came on to drain some shots, Andrew Ferguson and Ben Purser scored far too easily and suddenly the lead was out to 28. Cooper Hamilton hit a three of his own before half-time and when he added a second, the Hawks advantage had ballooned to 60-28.

The game was over as a contest with that 32-point half-time lead with the night becoming worse for the Wolfpack when experienced point Ben Ironmonger went down in the opening half with a nasty looking leg injury.

It had been a night that promised so much for the Wolves coming into it in good form and looking to celebrate the 250th milestone of guard Reece Maxwell in style, but it turned out to be their worst showing so far in the NBL1 West instead.

To Joondalup's credit they were able to outscore Perry Lakes 59 points to 58 in the second half, but the Hawks still cruised to the 118-87 victory to finish the round in top spot at 6-1 while the Wolfpack are sixth now at 4-3.

It was a night where the Hawks did plenty right including winning the rebound battle 45 to 27 including raking in 16 offensive boards while shooting at 57 per cent from the field and knocking down 16/36 from three-point range at 44 per cent.

Mitch Clarke had a terrific game running the point for Perry Lakes finishing with 23 points, six assists and four rebounds while Cooper Hamilton celebrated his 100th game with 19 points and three assists while draining 5/9 from three-point range.

Ben Purser had another 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists, Andrew Ferguson 16 points, 13 rebounds and three assists, Matt Leary 14 points and three boards, and Ryan Smith 14 points and three assists with 4/8 shooting from downtown.

Jonathan Wade battled away all evening for Joondalup finishing with a game-high 34 points including 5/8 shooting from deep.

Joel Vaiangina added 14 points, Lochlan Cummings 10, Seb Salinas six and Reece Maxwell six in his 250th game for the Wolfpack.