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ROUND 6 of the Men’s SBL got underway with three matches on Friday night with the Perry Lakes Hawks, Joondalup Wolves and Rockingham Flames coming away victorious.

It is the Anzac Round in the SBL and it’s made up of the three matches that were played on Friday night with another three to come on Saturday night, one on Sunday afternoon and then three on Wednesday afternoon to commemorate Anzac Day.

The Friday night action saw the Perry Lakes Hawks beat the Stirling Senators 90-77, the Joondalup Wolves defeat the Cockburn Cougars 95-65 and the Rockingham Flames down the East Perth Eagles 95-83.

MEN’S SBL PREVIEW – WEEK 6

Friday night in the Men’s SBL saw the Hawks host the Senators at Bendat Basketball Centre. Stirling made a fast start to lead by seven points by quarter-time but by half-time Perry Lakes had assumed a one-point advantage.

The Hawks then pulled away throughout the second half to end up winning by 13 points and improving to a 4-3 record in the process.

Reigning league MVP Jacob Holmen was playing his first game for Perry Lakes having arrived to replace the injured Tyler Monroe. He finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots.

Lochlan Cummings top-scored for the Hawks with 27 points and six rebounds on the back of nailing 6/11 from three-point territory.

Ryan Smith added 17 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals for Perry Lakes nailing 5/9 of his three-point attempts. Ben Purser also had 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

Robert Anshila top-scored for Stirling with 24 points and 14 rebounds with Justin King adding 19 points and nine boards.

Ash Litterick also had 13 points, eight rebounds and steals for the Senators while Jayden Coburn added 12 points and four boards.

Rockingham also hosted East Perth at Mike Barnett Sports Complex on Friday night. It was a tight first half before the Flames piled on 33 points to 18 in the third period to set up the eventual 12-point victory.

Curtis Washington made his first appearance of the season for the Flames with the new import coming out and top-scoring immediately with 21 points and nine rebounds on the back of shooting 10/15 from the field.

Reigning Player of the Week Greg Hire added 18 points, 14 rebounds and five assists for Rockingham with Josh Ritchart contributing 17 points.

Ryan Godfrey also had 11 points and five assists for the Flames, and Justin Beard 11 points and five boards.

Drew Williamson finished up top-scoring for the Eagles with 30 points, five steals, four assists and three rebounds while shooting 11/18 from the field and 5/8 from three-point territory.

Jonathan Morse contributed 20 points for the Eagles too on the back of shooting 9/12 from the floor.

Andrej Donlagic finished with nine points too for East Perth and Corey Easley 12 points, five rebounds and three assists.

The Wolves hosted the Cougars at HBF Arena in a rematch of last year’s quarter-final series that Joondalup took three games to overcome Cockburn in.

The Wolfpack were coming off their first loss of the season last Saturday night in Geraldton and bounced back emphatically to improve to 5-1 with the eventual 30-point victory over the now 2-4 Cougars.

Cockburn actually started well to lead at quarter-time by four points and were only a point down at half-time. Joondalup then dominated the second half holding the Cougars to just nine points in the third quarter and 24 for the half while piling on 53 points themselves.

It was the first time for ex-Cougars big man Jalen Billups to play against his team from last season and he ended up top-scoring for the Wolves with 17 points and seven rebounds on 8/13 shooting.

Chris Clausen added 14 points and three rebounds for the Wolfpack too while Damian Matacz finished with 10 points and eight rebounds, Seb Salinas nine points, three boards, three assists and two steals, and Brian Sullivan nine points, seven assists four rebounds and two steals.

Julian Pesava top-scored for the Cougars off the bench with 18 points to go with six rebounds with Jaarod Holmes contributing 14 points, Seva Chan 11 and Gavin Field 10 along with seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.

WEEK 6 MEN’S SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Perry Lakes Hawks 90 defeated Stirling Senators 77
Joondalup Wolves 95 defeated Cockburn Cougars 65
Rockingham Flames 95 defeated East Perth Eagles 83

SATURDAY
Perth Redbacks v Goldfields Giants – Belmont Oasis 7.30pm
Geraldton Buccaneers v Lakeside Lightning – Active West Stadium 7.30pm
South West Slammers v Rockingham Flames – Eaton Recreation Centre 8.00pm

SUNDAY
Kalamunda Eastern Suns v Goldfields Giants – Ray Owen Sports Centre 12.00pm

WEDNESDAY (ANZAC DAY)
Willetton Tigers v Kalamunda Eastern Suns – Willetton Basketball Stadium 3.00pm
Cockburn Cougars v Stirling Senators – Wally Hagan Stadium 3.00pm
Mandurah Magic v Perth Redbacks – Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre 3.00pm