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THE Stirling Senators continued their impressive opening to the 2018 Men’s SBL season with a third straight victory beating the Willetton Tigers at Warwick Stadium on Sunday.

Round 2 of the Men’s SBL began on Friday night with two matches that saw the Perry Lakes Hawks beat the East Perth Eagles 98-74 and the Perth Redbacks defeat the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 90-63.

It was then a big night of Saturday action starting with the regional teams hosting their first home matches of 2018. The Geraldton Buccaneers were the only one of three to win at home defeating the Rockingham Flames 91-74.

The Cockburn Cougars beat the Goldfields Giants 99-77 and the Mandurah Magic defeated the South West Slammers 82-71.

The Lakeside Lightning also had their home opener defeating the Perry Lakes Hawks 116-104 while the Joondalup Wolves also defeated the Kalamunda Eastern 121-96.

Then the lone game on Sunday saw the Stirling Senators beat the Willetton Tigers 120-111 at Warwick Stadium.

SATURDAY NIGHT MEN’S SBL RECAP – WEEK 2 
FRIDAY NIGHT’S MEN’S SBL RECAP – WEEK 2 
MEN’S SBL PREVIEW – WEEK 2 

The Senators came into Sunday’s home clash against the Tigers to close Round 2 in the Men’s SBL on the back of impressive opening weekend victories against the Rockingham Flames and Goldfields Giants.

Meanwhile, Willetton are last year’s regular season champions and were looking to bounce back from an opening round loss to the Joondalup Wolves last Saturday night, but it wasn’t to be.

Scores were tied at half-time at 58-58 but the Senators began to pull away in the third quarter and then delivered a strong fourth period to end up prevailing by nine points in a high-scoring affair.

Reigning SBL Player of the Week Justin King was again outstanding for Stirling with another 37 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two steals on shooting 14/21 from the field, 2/3 from three-point range and 7/9 from the charity stripe.

Cody Ellis added 26 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three steals too for the Senators while Ash Litterick contributed 18 points, seven boards and three assists, Robert Anshila 15 points, Jayden Coburn nine points and Corban Wroe eight points, 13 assists and seven rebounds.

Jay Bowie top-scored for Willetton with 28 points, eight rebounds and five assists on an efficient 11/16 shooting from the floor, 2/5 from deep and 4/4 at the foul line.

Badou Diagne added 21 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers while Kyle Armour finished with 23 points and six assists, and Damien Scott 17 points and five assists.

Andrew Black had eight assists and five rebounds in his 34 minutes of court time but he didn’t manage to score and took just three shots for the afternoon.

WEEK 2 MEN’S SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Perry Lakes Hawks 98 defeated East Perth Eagles 74
Perth Redbacks 90 defeated Kalamunda Eastern Suns 63

SATURDAY
Goldfields Giants 77 lost to Cockburn Cougars 99
Geraldton Buccaneers 91 defeated Rockingham Flames 74
South West Slammers 71 lost to Mandurah Magic 82
Lakeside Lightning 116 defeated Perry Lakes Hawks 104
Kalamunda Eastern Suns 96 lost to Joondalup Wolves 121

SUNDAY
Stirling Senators 120 defeated Willetton Tigers 111