NBL1 West Recap | Sunday Men's Round 3

The battle of undefeated teams on Sunday turned into an overtime classic between the Cockburn Cougars and Goldfields Giants in NBL1 West Men's action while the Geraldton Buccaneers made it four from four to open the 2022 season.

Three of the remaining five undefeated teams across the competition were in action on Sunday afternoon as Round 3 continued and it took until overtime for the Cougars to overcome the Giants while the Buccs improved to 4-0 with their win over the Lakeside Lightning.

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.

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

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.

Then the Sunday action got underway with the Cockburn Cougars ending up defeating the Goldfields Giants 113-109 in overtime at Wally Hagan Stadium.

Gavin Field was the difference in the game in the end putting up 36 points, five rebounds and five assists for the Cougars with Seva Chan adding 25 points and nine assists. Jesse Ghee had 31 points for Goldfields, Mayo Malek 25 and Hussayn Ford 22.

The Geraldton Buccaneers then maintained their undefeated start to the season beating the Lakeside Lightning 90-64 at Lakeside Recreation Centre.

Shaun Stewart had 22 points for the Buccs, Cameron Coleman 20 and Mathiang Muo 18. Ben Lee scored 20 points for Lakeside and Sebit Reath 19.

The round now 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 – SUNDAY

COCKBURN COUGARS 113 defeated GOLDFIELDS GIANTS 109

Two undefeated teams put their records on the line on Sunday afternoon at Wally Hagan Stadium and what an outstanding contest the Cockburn Cougars and Goldfields Giants delivered that couldn’t be decided in regulation.

Both teams had played the previous night as well with the Cougars beating the South West Slammers by 23 points while the Giants also defeated the East Perth by 32.

That ensured each team came into their clash on Sunday yet to taste defeat still in 2022 and with the short turnaround from the night before, they were on equal footing on every front coming into the contest.

Cockburn got off to the fast start with 30 points to 18 in the opening quarter and then added another 26 points to 25 in the second to head into the half-time break in control leading 56-43.

The Giants worked their way back into the contest, though, but still trailed by 11 heading into the fourth period.

Goldfields were feeling good, though, and a three-point play from Damon Ballantyne, three-point shot from Jesse Ghee and then the finish at the rim from Hussayn Ford putting them in front.

Ford then knocked down a three ball to put them up four with seven minutes to go. It was time for Cockburn to respond and they did with a Paschal Chukwu dunk ending up putting the home team back on top.

Gavin Field's triple then put them four points up but the big plays continued starting with an and-one for Goldfields from Ghee. With 1:30 left Damon Ballantyne tied scores up too with a three for Goldfields 

New Cougars import Carter Skaggs also nailed a three-point bomb to put the home team back up by that margin before a layup from Ghee made It a one-point game.

It was a remarkable finish to the game and Seva Chan ended up converting a three-point play after initially missing the free-throw. The Giants had to do something special and Ghee nailed a three but Chan again responded with the layup to keep the Cougars up three.

However, a tech foul for a second delay of game saw the Cougars pull back within two and then ultimately a layup from Ghee saw the game heading to overtime.

And in the extra period, it was Field who proved the difference as he has been so many times previously for Cockburn. With the Giants up 106-104, Field delivered a three-point play, and then knocked down six more free-throws to close out the game, and the 113-109 win.

Field finished with 36 points, five rebounds and five assists for the Cougars while hitting 5/9 from three-point territory, but more importantly he scored his team's last nine points of the game.

Seva Chan also scored 25 points while dishing out nine assists for Cockburn with Carter Skaggs putting up 17 points, 10 boards, four assists and two steals, Paschal Chukwu 13 points and six rebounds, and Josh Hunt 12 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

While it was a loss for the Giants in the end, they lost no admirers with Jesse Ghee finishing with 31 points, seven assists, five steals and three rebounds.

Mayo Malek added 25 points, five boards and three assists, Hussayn Ford 22 points and six rebounds, Damon Ballantyne 18 points, and Gairges Daow 10 points, eight boards and three assists.

LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 64 lost to GERALDTON BUCCANEERS 90

The Geraldton Buccaneers continue to emerge as one of the early standout teams in the NBL1 West Men's competition following a big Sunday win against the Lakeside Lightning away from home.

The Buccs have started the new season on fire as life begins to get back to normal for the 2019 champions after two years where COVID has made things a challenge.

They opened up their road double this weekend on Saturday night beating the Willetton Tigers by 33 points in a tremendously impressive performance and they put their unbeaten record on the line on Sunday at Lakeside Recreation Centre.

The Lightning had quite the tumultuous off-season with player departures and then not far out from the season welcoming in the experienced David Lindstrom to coach, and they were yet to win a game and had lost back on Friday night in a competitive showing in Rockingham by eight points.

It was an up tempo start to the contest with 56 points between them in the opening quarter and it was Geraldton leading 32-24 by quarter-time.

The Buccs pulled away further in the second quarter restricting the Lightning to just 11 points and scoring 22 themselves to go into the half-time break with a 54-35 advantage.

Geraldton went on with the job from there to score the 90-64 win to improve to a perfect 4-0 on the season while the Lightning slipped to 0-4 after the opening three rounds.

Shaun Stewart continues his impressive start to his stint with the Buccs by putting up 22 points, three rebounds and three assists while fellow import Cameron Coleman finished with 20 points, six boards, four assists and four steals.

Mathiang Muo also had 18 points and five assists while Malik Meunier contributed nine points, six rebounds and three assists.

Ben Lee top-scored for Lakeside with 20 points, five rebounds and three assists while Sebit Reath finished with 19 points and eight boards, Dom Jackson eight points and six rebounds, and Kayden Malseed seven points.