The Cockburn Cougars continue to make a charge on the way to the NBL1 West Men’s Division playoffs with a stunning overtime win over the Warwick Senators while there were also Friday night wins for the Perry Lakes Hawks, Lakeside Lightning and Rockingham Flames.
The Cougars are now on a five-game winning streak to be breaking down the door for a playoff position after Gavin Field shot them to overtime against the Senators, and Josh Hunt hit the eventual game winner.
Perry Lakes, Lakeside and Rockingham all showed their class too in impressive wins on the evening.
Round 15 in the NBL1 West Men’s Division got underway with the lone game on Thursday night which saw the Lakeside Lightning overpower a valiant Kalamunda Eastern Suns 105-90 at Ray Owen Sports Centre.
Then on Friday night, the Perry Lakes Hawks proved too strong for a Willetton Tigers outfit minus Michael Vigor, Connor Mincherton and Damien Scott, winning 105-88 at Bendat Basketball Centre.
Mitch Clarke had 19 points for Perry Lakes, Lewis Thomas 15, Ben Purser 12, Rob Cassir 12 Andrew Ferguson 12, Matthew Leary 11 and Ryan Smith 11. Hunter Clarke had 22 points for Willetton and Andrew Black 20.
The Lakeside Lightning inflicted more pain on the Joondalup Wolves with a 106-79 victory at Lakeside Recreation Centre.
The Lightning welcomed back Jarrad Prue and Corey Shervill for the big win with another 30 points from Rowan Mackenzie while Jonathan Wade scored 29 points for the Wolfpack.
The Rockingham Flames proved too good for the South West Slammers with a 103-67 victory at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.
Cirkook Makuac Riak and Ryan Godfrey scored 20 points each for Rockingham with Calen Van De Griend putting up 24 points and nine rebounds for the Slammers.
It was then an overtime classic at Wally Hagan Stadium with Gavin Field shooting the Cockburn Cougars to overtime with the Warwick Senators where they went to record the crucial 104-102 win.
Field finished with 25 points for the Cougars and Nic Pozoglou 24 with Justin King delivering 27 points for the Senators, Caleb Davis 25 and Cody Ellis 21.
Round 15 continues with a monster Saturday night starting at 7pm with the Geraldton Buccaneers hosting the Perth Redbacks at Active West Stadium.
The Joondalup Wolves are also at home to the Perry Lakes Hawks at HBF Arena while the Warwick Senators host the East Perth Eagles and the Willetton Tigers take on the Cockburn Cougars at Willetton Basketball Stadium.
The South West Slammers are then also hosting the Goldfields Giants at Eaton Recreation Centre and the Kalamunda Eastern Suns take on the Mandurah Magic at Ray Owen Sports Centre.
The final game of the round then takes place on Sunday afternoon at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre with the Mandurah Magic playing the Goldfields Giants.
NBL1 WEST – 2021 MEN’S SEASON
ROUND 15 – FRIDAY NIGHT
PERRY LAKES HAWKS 105 defeated WILLETTON TIGERS 88
It shaped as a potentially season-defining battle between Perry Lakes and Willetton coming into the Friday night clash at Bendat Basketball Centre as they battle over positions inside the top two.
While the Hawks came in at full strength with the deepest squad across the league, the Tigers were without star big Michael Vigor, superstar scorer Damien Scott and the hugely talented young gun Connor Mincherton.
That meant the job was ahead of the Tigers but they showed good fight from the outset and even though the Hawks got rolling offensively with 30 points in the first quarter, Willetton stuck with them well with 24 of their own.
Perry Lakes did blow the game open in the second period with another 31 points while holding the Tigers to just 18 to head into the half-time break in control leading 61-42.
Willetton came out strong to start the second half, though, and quickly closed the deficit to 13 points but Ben Purser then took over the Hawks and he put his team out to a 21-point lead midway through the third quarter.
The Tigers kept coming and again got back within 12, but the Hawks lead was back out to 17 by three quarter-time thanks to a couple of buckets to Bailey Cole.
Andrew Black shot Willetton back within 12 with seven minutes left, but Perry Lakes continued to answer each challenge and went on to score the 105-88 victory.
Without Mincherton and Scott there as ball handlers for Willetton, Perry Lakes forced them into 21 turnovers and especially in the first half they made bringing the ball up the floor hell for the Tigers young guards.
The depth of the Hawks was once again on full show with Mitch Clarke top-scoring for 19 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Lewis Thomas added 15 points and seven rebounds, Andrew Ferguson 12 points and nine boards, Ben Purser 12 points and seven assists, Rob Cassir 12 points, five steals, four assists and four rebounds, Ryan Smith 11 points and three assists, and Matt Leary 11 points.
Considering they were without three such key players, Willetton would have taken plenty from it with Hunter Clarke delivering 22 points and eight assists and Andrew Black 20 points and four rebounds on shooting 5/10 from beyond the arc.
Travis Fee added 10 points and six rebounds for the Tigers, Tom Gerovich 10 points and five boards, Brent Hank nine points and five rebounds, and Michael Garbellini eight points and two assists.
LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 106 defeated JOONDALUP WOLVES 79
Lakeside made it two wins inside 24 hours while continuing the recent struggles of the Joondalup Wolves with an emphatic 27-point win at Lakeside Recreation Centre on Friday night.
Lakeside had opened up Round 15 in the NBL1 West Men’s Division by beating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns on Thursday night on the road so they had to back up at home to the Wolfpack on Friday.
The Wolves had started the season well enough winning seven of their opening 11 matches, but things have really spiralled downward since with them having lost four games in-a-row coming into the clash with the Lightning at Lakeside Recreation Centre.
Lakeside was still without the injured Jay Bowie but regained the services of rebounding legend Jarrad Prue and Perth Wildcats emerging gun Corey Shervill for the clash against the Wolves, and they started strongly accordingly.
The Lightning put up 27 points to 15 in the opening quarter and then despite a 27-point second term from Joondalup, Lakeside still led comfortably enough 51-42 by half-time.
The Lightning then turned the heat right back on the struggling Wolves with another 22 points to 11 in the third quarter.
Lakeside made sure of the victory with 33 points to 26 in the final period to see the Lightning go on and score the 106-79 victory to improve to 14-3 on the season while Joondalup has now lost five in-a-row to be 7-9 and in real danger of missing the playoffs.
The Lightning love to shoot the three ball and that was on show on Friday night as they went 18/42 from three-point territory shooting it at an impressive 42.9 per cent as a team. The Wolves went just 5/20 at 25 per cent in contrast.
Rowan Mackenzie backed up 35 points the previous night for Lakeside against Kalamunda with another 30 points to go with six assists and four rebounds on the back of hitting 10/17 from the floor and 4/8 from downtown.
Corey Shervill came in and went 4/7 from downtown for 17 points with Jack Isenbarger contributing 15 points and eight assists, Liam Hislop 11 points, Nick Palleschi 11 points, and Kyle Armour 10 points and four assists.
Jonathan Wade top-scored for the Wolfpack with 29 points and five rebounds with Lochlan Cummings contributing 13 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.
ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 103 defeated SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 67
The Rockingham Flames kept their winning form going in the race for a top four position with a 36-point win at home over the South West Slammers on Friday night.
The Flames were back at home at Mike Barnett Sports Complex riding a two-game winning streak as they try to lock away a top four finish as they hosted a Slammers team just trying to be competitive having lost their past eight matches.
Rockingham did come into the contest without all the NBL championship experience usually provided by Greg Hire and Tom Jervis, but it mattered little as the Flames got off to a flying start.
The home team put up 38 points in the opening quarter while holding the Slammers to just the 19 and that pretty much put the match out of reach of the visitors by quarter-time.
From there, Rockingham cruised to the game with 21 points to 14 in the second quarter, and then another 24 to 14 in the fourth to end up winning 103-67 to be make it three wins on the trot.
The 36-point victory improves the Flames to an 11-6 record on the season while the Slammers have now lost nine straight at 2-14.
Captain Ryan Godfrey led the Flames from the front to finish the evening with 20 points and seven rebounds while connecting on 3/6 from three-point territory.
Cirkook Makuac Riak added 20 points, three rebounds and three assists as well for the Flames while Atem Bior contributed 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists, Brendan Redhead 12 points and four assists, and Justin Beard 11 points, 11 boards and three assists.
Caleb Van De Griend had a big night despite the big loss for the Slammers with 24 points and nine rebounds while Cody Hill contributed nine points and three steals, and Jack Flynn eight points and four rebounds.
COCKBURN COUGARS 104 defeated WARWICK SENATORS 102
Perhaps the game of the season ended up taking place on Friday night at Wally Hagan Stadium with the Cockburn Cougars winning an overtime classic against the Warwick Senators by two points in the finish.
It always shaped as a fascinating contest between a Cougars team on a four-game winning streak to be knocking on the door of the top eight while the Senators had now won three in-a-row again to be back on track for a top four finish.
That meant both teams were in form and with plenty at stake as they locked horns on Friday night at Wally Hagan Stadium and the game sure didn’t disappoint.
The stage was set in the opening quarter with both teams combining to put up 60 points with scores all tied at 30-30 by quarter-time.
The scoreboard kept ticking over in the second quarter but it was the Cougars who managed to open up a narrow edge by half-time to lead the Senators 56-52.
Cockburn then pulled away a little further with 25 points to 18 in the third quarter to lead 81-70 and to put the onus back on the visiting Senators to respond.
Seva Chan stretched that lead to 13 for the Cougars to start the fourth quarter but an 8-0 run in response from the Senators meant it was game back on before Cockburn was up seven once more with a big dunk from emerging big man Nathan Pond.
Then just with Cockburn back in control up nine, Caleb Davis converted a four-point play for Warwick to set up the big finish.
With two minutes on the clock, Davis hit a three to break the deadlock before Josh Hunt brought Cockburn back within a point, and Cody Ellis hit a free-throw for a two-point Warwick lead.
Nic Pozoglou hit a pair of free-throws to brings scores back level before the Senators had a chance to break the deadlock. Justin King might have went a bit early, but he did hit a three-pointer to put Warwick up 96-93.
However, he left nine seconds on the clock and out of a timeout, Gavin Field added to his legacy with a stunning desperation three from the corner for Cockburn while triple-teamed to send the game into overtime.
And in the extra period, scores were again level and this time two made free-throws from Josh Hunt would seal the deal for the Cougars for the 104-102 win in a dramatic and somewhat bizarre finish to a remarkable contest.
Gavin Field continued his hot form for Cockburn with another 25 points and eight rebounds while knocking down 5/11 of his three-point attempts.
Nic Pozoglou added 24 points, 12 rebounds, five steals, four blocks and three assists as well for the Cougars with Josh Hunt finishing with 19 points on 3/5 shooting from three, Seva Chan 16 points, nine assists and seven boards, and Jaarod Holmes eight points, three boards and three assists.
Justin King had a huge night for the Senators with 27 points, eight rebounds, five steals and three assists while hitting all three of his three-point attempts.
Caleb Davis also put up 25 points, six rebounds, three assists and three steals for Warwick, Cody Ellis 21 points, seven assists and four boards, and Ethan Elliott 13 points, seven assists, five rebounds and two steals.