The Kalamunda Eastern Suns pulled off the upset on Friday night to celebrate the 300th appearance of Corey Easley while the South West Slammers went ever so close to doing similar and the Lakeside Lightning also kept on winning.
There were three games on Friday night to open Round 11 in the NBL1 West Men’s Division with the Willetton Tigers and Lakeside Lightning winning to consolidate their place on top of the table while the Eastern Suns won on the road in style on a big night for veteran big Corey Easley.
The Friday night action in the Men’s Division saw the Willetton Tigers escape from Eaton Recreation Centre with the 76-74 victory against the South West Slammers to retain top spot in the standings.
Damien Scott finished with another 17 points and four assists for Willetton while Cody Hill put up 20 points for the Slammers.
The Lakeside Lightning then made it four wins in-a-row by defeating the Cockburn Cougars 85-67 at Lakeside Recreation Centre.
Rowan Mackenzie finished with 26 points for the Lightning and Jay Bowie 22 while Jarrad Prue pulled in another 21 rebounds. Josh Hunt had 13 points and three assists for the Cougars.
The Kalamunda Eastern Suns then recorded their third win of the season in Corey Easley’s 300th appearance by beating the Rockingham Flames 98-94 at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.
Chris Johnson produced 20 points and eight rebounds for the Suns with Atem Bior putting up 19 points and nine rebounds for the Flames.
Round 11 in the NBL1 West Men’s Division then continues on Saturday night with the Joondalup Wolves hosting the Rockingham Flames, the East Perth Eagles taking on the South West Slammers, and the Goldfields Giants at home in Kalgoorlie to the Mandurah Magic.
The Willetton Tigers also play host to the Warwick Senators and the Perry Lakes Hawks take on the Perth Redbacks at Bendat Basketball Centre.
There are then two more match ups on Sunday afternoon with the Perth Redbacks playing the Geraldton Buccaneers and the Warwick Senators at home to the Kalamunda Eastern Suns.
NBL1 WEST – 2021 MEN’S SEASON
ROUND 11 – FRIDAY NIGHT
SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 74 lost to WILLETTON TIGERS 76
The Willetton Tigers took a six-game winning streak with them to Eaton Recreation Centre on Friday night and they sure were made to work to extend it to seven by the South West Slammers.
The Slammers continue to battle hard to strike some scares into the opposition and that included the league-leading Willetton on Friday night to open Round 11 on their home floor.
The Tigers came to down sitting on top of the Men’s Division in NBL1 West on the back of winning their last six matches including a thrilling three-point win last Saturday night at home to Scott Machado and the Mandurah Magic.
The Slammers might have lost their past three games since back-to-back wins over the Eastern Suns and Eagles, but they have continued to battle hard and that was again the case against the Tigers on Friday night.
Willetton only managed to narrowly lead 23-21 by quarter-time and things remained tight by half-time with the Tigers only clinging to a 47-43 advantage.
The Slammers continued to make a real game of it by outscoring the Tigers in the third quarter with 18 points to 15 and it was just a one-point ball game heading into the final term.
A Leigh Rickwood-Pitt triple for the Slammers tied scores up early in the fourth quarter but Willetton responded by hitting the next six points. South West kept coming, though, and with just over five minutes left, scores were tied again after a triple from Cody Hill.
But a bucket from Damien Scott and then his free-throws steadied the Tigers to a four-point edge again and this time it would be enough to see them hold on for the two-point win and make it seven wins straight for an 9-1 record on top of the standings.
Damien Scott finished up top-scoring for Willetton with 17 points and four assists while Hunter Clarke added 12 points and five rebounds, Michael Vigor 11 points and eight boards, and Connor Mincherton eight points, five rebounds and five assists.
Cody Hill put up 20 points for the Slammers in an impressive performance on 8/15 shooting from the floor and 4/9 from three-point range.
Rhys Barrett added 16 points and three assists for South West, Mitch Keller 10 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, three steals and two blocked shots, Caleb Van De Griend 10 points and four boards, and Leigh Rickwood-Pitt eight points and 11 rebounds.
LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 85 defeated COCKBURN COUGARS 67
The Lakeside Lightning continued their impressive form with an 18-point win over the Cockburn Cougars at Lakeside Recreation Centre on Friday night.
The Lightning came into the game on a three-game winning streak while the Cougars had lost their past six matches, and the game followed that form line to open Round 11 in the NBL1 West Men’s Division.
Lakeside started well with 24 points to 16 against Cockburn in the opening quarter before the home side stretched their lead further in the second term to head into the half-time break in control leading 47-32.
The Lightning confirmed their control of the game in the third quarter with another 22 points to 17 before they ended up running out 85-67 victors.
The win is a fourth straight this season for Lakeside as they improve to a 10-2 record while Cockburn has now lost seven in-a-row to be struggling at 2-9.
Rowan Mackenzie produced a tremendous performance for the Lightning with 26 points on the back of hitting 5/6 from three-point range.
Jay Bowie kept up his hot form too with another 22 points and nine rebounds with Jack Isenbarger contributing 16 points, five assists and four steals, and Jarrad Prue 10 points and 21 rebounds, of which 10 came at the offensive end.
Josh Hunt ended up top-scoring for the Magic with 13 points and three assists with Seva Chan finishing with 11 points and three assists, Nic Pozoglou 11 points, seven assists, six rebounds and six steals, Ben Henshall 10 points and three boards, and Riley Eves eight points and four rebounds.
ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 94 lost to KALAMUNDA EASTERN SUNS 98