news

THE Geraldton Buccaneers ensured they bounced back emphatically from a shock home loss with a second big road win in the Men’s SBL on Sunday while the Cockburn Cougars also won well at home to the Perry Lakes Hawks.

Round 8 in the Men’s SBL began on Friday night with the Perth Redbacks beating the Stirling Senators 105-84 with the Joondalup Wolves remaining unbeaten at HBF Arena beating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 117-83.

It was then a huge Saturday night with 12 teams in action starting with the South West Slammers beating the Goldfields Giants 100-78 at Niels Hansen Basketball Stadium and the Geraldton Buccaneers defeating the Stirling Senators 88-82.

The Willetton Tigers also defeated the Rockingham Flames 103-94, the Perry Lakes Hawks beat the Lakeside Lightning 99-82, the East Perth Eagles downed the Mandurah Magic 96-62 and the Cockburn Cougars prevailed 103-88 over the Kalamunda Eastern Suns.

There were then two matches on Sunday afternoon with the Geraldton Buccaneers beating the Rockingham Flames 99-63 and the Cockburn Cougars defeating the Perry Lakes Hawks 98-74.

SATURDAY NIGHT MEN’S SBL RECAP – WEEK 8 
HAWKS SETTLING NICELY AS CUMMINGS, DT MAKE COCKBURN RETURN 
FRIDAY NIGHT MEN’S SBL RECAP – WEEK 8 
MEN’S SBL PREVIEW – WEEK 8 

The Sunday Men’s SBL action began with the Flames hosting the Buccaneers at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

Rockingham was coming off a loss to Willetton the previous night while Geraldton had beaten the Senators in response to a surprise loss at home to the Mandurah Magic.

The Buccs came out firing right from the outside and blew the Flames away in the first half putting up 57 points to lead by 27 at the main break. They extended that by the final buzzer to a 36-point victory to improve to a 8-2 record on the season while the Flames slipped to 6-5.

Gokul Natesan finished with 27 points, four assists, three steals and three rebounds for the Buccs while Earnest Ross delivered 20 points, six boards, four steals and three assists in his second appearance since joining Geraldton this weekend.

Marcus Alipate added 14 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals for the Buccaneers while Ike Smith contributed 12 points and six boards, and Colter Lasher nine points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Jarryd Griffin top-scored off the bench for the Flames who were without Josh Ritchart. Griffin finished with 14 points and five rebounds.

Justin Beard added 12 points and seven rebounds, Curtis Washington 11 points and 10 boards, and Ryan Godfrey nine points and seven rebounds. Greg Hire had just the two points, five rebounds and six turnovers on 0/8 shooting.

The Cougars then made it an impressive round backing up their Saturday night win on the road to Kalamunda by beating a Hawks team at Wally Hagan Stadium by 24 points.

Perry Lakes was coming off a 17-point win at home over Lakeside on Saturday night.

The Cougars made a hot start to the clash on Sunday afternoon racing to an 11-point lead by quarter-time. They then further pulled away with a 26-17 third quarter and 30 more points in the fourth to 23 to claim the impressive 24-point victory.

The two wins this weekend improves the Cougars to a 4-6 record on the season while the Hawks are 6-4 after splitting their two games of Round 8.

Gavin Field led from the front for the Cougars putting up 27 points, five assists and four rebounds on shooting 11/21 from the field and 3/6 from downtown.

Julian Pesava finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds as the 2016 championship winner is building into the season nicely on return to the Cougars after attending college in 2017.

Brandon Sebirumbi also contributed 20 points and 13 rebounds for Cockburn while Seva Chan added 12 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

Reigning MVP Jacob Holmen top-scored for Perry Lakes with 13 points and six rebounds but shot just 6/18 from the field.

Lochlan Cummings finished with 12 points and four rebounds for the Hawks, Cooper Hamilton 11 points and Dan Thomas eight with three assists, two steals and two rebounds.

WEEK 8 MEN’S SBL RESULTS
FRIDAY
Perth Redbacks 105 defeated Stirling Senators 84
Joondalup Wolves 117 defeated Kalamunda Eastern Suns 83

SATURDAY
Goldfields Giants 78 lost to South West Slammers 100
Stirling Senators 82 lost to Geraldton Buccaneers 88
Willetton Tigers 103 defeated Rockingham Flames 94
Perry Lakes Hawks 99 defeated Lakeside Lightning 82
Mandurah Magic 62 lost to East Perth Eagles 96
Kalamunda Eastern Suns 88 lost to Cockburn Cougars 103

SUNDAY
Rockingham Flames 63 lost to Geraldton Buccaneers 99
Cockburn Cougars 98 defeated Perry Lakes Hawks 74