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THE Perry Lakes Hawks have won consecutive Men’s SBL matches for the first time in 2017 with a second win over the Cockburn Cougars for the season with the South West Slammers and Stirling Senators coming away with thrilling Friday night victories.

There were three Men’s SBL matches on Friday night with the Perry Lakes Hawks earning another win over the Cockburn Cougars 94-77 giving coach Matt Parsons another victory over the team he led to last year’s championships.

Just two points was the margin in the other two encounters with the South West Slammers downing the East Perth Eagles 92-90 and the Stirling Senators bouncing back to beat the Rockingham Flames 66-64.

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Friday night’s Men’s SBL action saw a second encounter for the season between the Hawks and Cougars, pitting Parsons up against the team he did such an outstanding job of coaching the past two years to earn back-to-back Coach of the Year honours.

He led the Hawks to a stunning comeback win at Cockburn earlier in the season and repeated the dose with Perry Lakes winning by 17 points this time around at Bendat Basketball Centre.

The win backs up Perry Lakes’ win last week over the Joondalup City Wolves giving them consecutive wins for the first time in 2017. The Hawks improve to an 8-10 record while the Cougars slip to 10-9.

It was the second quarter when the Hawks put the space on the Cougars with 28 points to 10 to lead 54-38 at half-time. That remained pretty much the difference by the final buzzer.

Brian Carlwell put in a strong performance up against Jalen Billups finishing with 17 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks for the Hawks.

Matthew Adekponya again top-scored for Perry Lakes with 25 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

The Hawks had plenty more contributors too with Ben Purser finishing with 12 points and 10 rebounds, Rob Waters 11 points, Bailey Cole-Heath 11 points and Ryan Smith 10 points.

Billups ended up with 19 points for Cockburn with Seva Chan finishing up with 17 points and five assists, and Gavin Field 14 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

The Eagles took part in yet another nail-biter at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre and once more came up short, with the Slammers claiming the two-point victory.

The loss leaves East Perth outside the top eight at 7-12 while the win means South West has won 11 of its past 14 matches to sit at 11-7 and knocking on the door of fourth spot.

The Slammers are making it their trademark in 2017 of delivering tremendous comebacks and that was again the case on Friday night. East Perth looked on track for the win up by five points at three quarter-time and leading by as much as 12 on the night.

But the Slammers just seem to get better the longer games go and they hit 23 fourth quarter points to 16 to end up winning by two.

Tre Nichols had a big performance for the Slammers with 26 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Brian Voelkel had another huge effort too with 17 points, 18 rebounds, nine assists and three steals with Michael Lay contributing 14 points and five assists, Chris Douglas 16 points, Clive Weeden nine points, five rebounds and three blocks, and Teny Puot eight points.

East Perth basically just banked on its starters to get the job done with no one off the bench reaching 10 minutes.

Kevin Davis finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds, Corey Easley 21 points and eight boards, Drew Williamson 21 points and six assists, Joe-Alan Tupaea 10 points and seven assists, and Mason Bragg seven points and four assists.

It was another two-point thriller on Friday night at Mike Barnett Sports Complex with the Senators snapping their losing run to win on the road over the in-form Flames.

Stirling had lost its last four games leading into the game but the win steadies the Senators inside the top eight at 9-9. Rockingham had won seven of its past nine but now slips to a 10-10 record.

Rockingham was leading by seven points at half-time but Stirling then held the Flames to just 20 second half points. They might have only scored 29 themselves, but that was enough for the two-point win.

Cody Ellis was the only Stirling player to score in double-figures and he finished with 21 points, five assists, three rebounds and two steals.

Ash Litterick contributed seven points and five rebounds for the Senators, Austin Bruton seven points, Rhys Vague six points and six boards, and Corban Wroe six points, five rebounds and three assists.

Donovan Jack finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds for Rockingham with Ryan Godfrey adding 16 points and five assists, and Vinny Zollo 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Saturday night’s Men’s SBL action begins with a tantalising match up between the Geraldton Buccaneers and the Joondalup City Wolves.

The Goldfields Giants also host the Lakeside Lightning while the South West Slammers play the Kalamunda Eastern Suns, the Willetton Tigers face the Rockingham Flames and the Mandurah Magic battle the Perth Redbacks.

Then on Sunday afternoon, the Cockburn Cougars play the East Perth Eagles in another crucial contest.

FRIDAY NIGHT ROUND 15 MEN’S SBL RESULTS
Perry Lakes Hawks 94 defeated Cockburn Cougars 77
East Perth Eagles 90 lost to South West Slammers 92
Rockingham Flames 64 lost to Stirling Senators 66

SATURDAY NIGHT ROUND 15 MEN’S SBL FIXTURES
Geraldton Buccaneers v Joondalup City Wolves – Active West Stadium 7.30pm
Goldfields Giants v Lakeside Lightning – Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium 8pm
South West Slammers v Kalamunda Eastern Suns – Eaton Recreation Centre 8pm
Mandurah Magic v Perth Redbacks – Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre 8pm
Willetton Tigers v Rockingham Flames – Willetton Basketball Stadium 8pm

SUNDAY ROUND 15 MEN’S SBL FIXTURES
Cockburn Cougars v East Perth Eagles – Wally Hagan Stadium 2pm

Photo by Vikki Hile