news

TWO wins on the road saw the Goldfields Giants announce themselves to the Men’s SBL season in Round 9 action while the Joondalup Wolves also had two strong wins and the defending champion Perry Lakes Hawks struggled to two losses despite the inclusion of Shawn Redhage.

It was a fascinating Round 9 in the Men’s SBL with the Giants the team to make the most noise with their road wins against the Perry Lakes Hawks and Perth Redbacks.

The Wolfpack were also impressive beating the Cougars and Magic while the Rockingham Flames enjoying being at full strength for the first time in 2019 to thrash the defending champs on Friday night.

The Kalamunda Eastern Suns were also impressive winning in Geraldton while the Warwick Senators kept their hot streak going and the East Perth Eagles returned to the winner’s list.

ROUND 9 SPOTLIGHT | EAGLES SHOW HEART TO OVERCOME LIGHTNING
ROUND 9 SPOTLIGHT | ROBBINS TRUMPS REDHAGE AS FLAMES THRASH HAWKS
ROUND 9 MEN’S SBL PREVIEW
NICOLLE DICONZA QUITE THE REFEREE ROLE MODEL
BURLY BURKE MAKING IMMEDIATE GIANTS IMPACT
REDHAGE’S COMPETITIVE DRIVE BRINGS HIM TO HAWKS

The Round 9 action began on Friday night with the Perth Redbacks beating the Willetton Tigers 94-86, the Joondalup Wolves defeating the Cockburn Cougars 86-80 and the Rockingham Flames downing the Perry Lakes Hawks 86-62.

Then on Saturday night, the Joondalup Wolves beat the Mandurah Magic 101-80, the Goldfields Giants defeated the Perry Lakes Hawks 101-94, and the Kalamunda Eastern won on the road 73-66 over the Geraldton Buccaneers.

The East Perth Eagles also snapped a four-game winning run to beat the Lakeside Lightning 88-82 and the Warwick Senators made it seven straight, beating the winless South West Slammers 101-64.

The round concluded on Sunday afternoon with the Goldfields Giants beating the Perth Redbacks 100-92.

After nine rounds of the season, the Warwick Senators are on top at 8-2 having won seven straight.

They sit ahead of the Joondalup Wolves (9-3), Geraldton Buccaneers (7-3), Lakeside Lightning (7-3), Rockingham Flames (8-4), Goldfields Giants (8-4), Perry Lakes Hawks (7-5) and Perth Redbacks (6-7).

The Kalamunda Eastern Suns (6-7) are just outside the top eight ahead of the East Perth Eagles (5-7), Willetton Tigers (4-8), Cockburn Cougars (3-7), Mandurah Magic (2-9) and South West Slammers (0-11).

FRIDAY

WILLETTON TIGERS 86 lost to TEXTURE WA PERTH REDBACKS 94

The Perth Redbacks made it four wins on the trot to open Round 9 in the Men’s SBL with an eight-point victory over the Willetton Tigers on Friday night.

The Tigers were hosting the Redbacks at Willetton Basketball Stadium out to steady having lost five of their past six games and with the addition of new import Chris Galbreath.

But the Redbacks shot out of the blocks in impressive fashion going on a 14-0 run and going on to lead by as much as 25 points before settling on a 33-11 advantage by quarter-time.

While Willetton fought back strongly in the second quarter to cut the Redbacks lead to just 51-43 at half-time, Perth did enough to hold off the Tigers in the second half and win the game 94-86 to make it four wins on the trot and improve their record to 6-6.

While the Redbacks shot solidly from the field at 45 per cent and 32 per cent from three compared with 40 and 22 per cent respectively from the Tigers, it was Perth’s ability to attack the rim and get to the foul line that proved the ultimate difference.

The Redbacks ended up going 20/31 from the foul line compared to 10/10 from the Tigers.

Marshall Nelson was outstanding for the Redbacks as he continues to show that he deserves to remain in the NBL. He produced 34 points, six rebounds and five assists on 10/20 from the floor, 3/7 from beyond the arc, and 11/15 at the charity stripe.

Jourdan DeMuynck also produced 33 points, 12 rebounds and five assists for the Redbacks while Zac Gattorna contributed 16 points and six boards, and captain Joel Wagner four points, seven assists and four rebounds.

Damien Scott top-scored for the Tigers with 22 points, seven rebounds and seven assists with Chris Galbreath producing 18 points and 10 boards on debut.

Mo Barrow added 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists for Willetton while Jackson Hussey contributed 11 points, six assists, five steals and three rebounds, and Scott Elder eight points.

PRESTIGE HONDA MELVILLE COCKBURN COUGARS 80 lost to CHAMBERS FRANKLYN JOONDALUP CITY WOLVES 86

The Joondalup Wolves don’t lose too often so they were always going to be on a mission on Friday night coming off a loss and they bounced back with a six-point win over the Cockburn Cougars.

The Wolfpack had lost just their third game of the season the previous Saturday night to the Warwick Senators so that meant they were going to extra motivated at Wally Hagan Stadium on Friday night against the Cougars.

Cockburn was coming into the game having lost their past two games too so it shaped as a fascinating contest between teams that met in the Grand Final of 2016 and quarter finals of 2017.

Joondalup started strongly to lead 26-18 at the end of the opening quarter but Cockburn responded well in the second period and the Wolves only managed to lead 44-41 at the half-time break.

Things remained tight throughout the second half but the Wolves did enough to come away with the 86-80 victory to improve to an 8-3 record on the season while the Cougars slipped to 3-7 with their third successive defeat.

The Wolves dominated the glass finishing up with 53 rebounds to 36 with the Wolfpack also doing a better job getting to the line, shooting 29 free-throws to 17 from Cockburn.

Kevin Davis needed to step up for the Wolves and the championship-winning centre from 2015 produced a strong performance with 22 points and 15 rebounds on 9/10 shooting from the field and 4/6 from the free-throw line.

Earnest Ross added 19 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and three steals for the Wolfpack with Ridell Camidge contributing 13 points and six boards, Trian Iliadis 12 points and seven assists, and Reece Maxwell seven points and three steals.

Jaarod Holmes battled tirelessly inside for the Cougars finishing with 18 points and five rebounds.

Seva Chan added 14 points, three rebounds and three assists for Cockburn with Jake Harris adding 13 points and three assists, Gavin Field 11 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, and Matt Vinci eight points and two assists.

ID ATHLETIC PERRY LAKES HAWKS 62 lost to SINCLAIR MCDONALD’S ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 86

It had all the makings of a night to remember at Bendat Basketball Centre and it proved to be for all the right reasons for the Rockingham Flames as they marked Brad Robbins’ debut with a 24-point thumping of the Perry Lakes Hawks and their own debutant, Shawn Redhage.

The two teams had already met in Rockingham earlier this season with the Flames winning by 17 but the Hawks got their championship defence on track winning seven of the next eight games heading into Friday night.

Coming off wins by a combined 52 points over East Perth and Kalamunda along with the addition of Shawn Redhage meant Perry Lakes had every reason to be feeling good coming into the game, but Rockingham had other ideas.

With Brad Robbins shaking off two torn hamstrings early this year to make his Flames debut and play his first SBL game since 2015 and with Greg Hire returning from helping Australia qualify for the 3×3 World Cup, the Flames were full strength for the first time in 2019 as well.

Perry Lakes might have scored first thanks to Clint Steindl free-throws but once Greg Hire got a trademark offensive board and put back, the Flames could sense they were on song.

Caleb White then nailed a jumper and so did young gun Luke Travers, who then made it an 10-2 start when he hit two pairs of free-throws.

Ben Purser eventually hit Perry Lakes’ first field goal more than six minutes into the game but when Travers continued his hot start with a big dunk, Rockingham was up 16-4 in a stunning opening that soon became 18-4 with two more Travers foul shots.

Travers then hit a jumper as the Flames led 23-6 by quarter-time and that became 25-6 to start the second term thanks to Chudier Pal. It was dominance by Rockingham to a remarkable level with Josh Ritchart and White draining triples to see them lead 31-10.

Purser continued to play a lonehand for the Hawks and then Kyle Sovine hit a three to have them back within 15, but Ritchart responded in kind immediately. Another Travers dunk had the Flames back up by 20 which became 22 after a three-point play from Hire.

Redhage eventually got his first point with a free-throw with two minutes to go in the half but it was all Rockingham at half-time leading 47-29.

The anticipated Perry Lakes fightback in the second half never materialised despite Redhage hitting his first field goal at the Hawks early in the third period.

Consecutive Justin Beard triples midway through the quarter ended any hopes the Hawks had of fighting back when it became a 25-point ball game. Travers’ stunning outing continued with another three heading towards three quarter-time too with the Flames up 66-42 going into the fourth.

It was all academic in the last term and Rockingham finished in style when Ben Johnson hit a triple to secure the 24-point win.

It was the defensive effort of the Flames that stood out the most holding the potent Hawks to going 21/75 at 28 per cent from the field and 5/29 at 17 per cent from downtown. They shot it 41 and 24 per cent respectively themselves.

Luke Travers top-scored for Rockingham with 20 points on 6/9 shooting from the field, 2/4 from deep and 6/6 at the line.

Greg Hire finished with 16 points, 15 rebounds, eight assists and three steals for the Flames while Chudier Pal produced 10 points, six boards and five blocks, Ryan Godfrey nine points, five assists and three boards, Josh Ritchart nine points and four rebounds, and Justin Beard eight points and four boards.

Clint Steindl had a shooting night to forget going 4/18 from the field and 1/8 from deep. He did go a perfect 7/7 at the foul line for 16 points to top-score for Perry Lakes.

Shawn Redhage had seven points and five rebounds while Ben Purser finished with seven points, six assists and five boards, Rob Cassir seven points and four assists, and Kyle Sovine seven points and five rebounds.

SATURDAY

CHAMBERS FRANKLYN JOONDALUP CITY WOLVES 101 defeated MANDURAH MAGIC 80

The Joondalup Wolves backed up their win on Friday night over the Cockburn Cougars by returning home on Saturday night and despite the men starting the proceedings early, they beat the Mandurah Magic by 21 points.

The men’s contest was first up for the night at HBF Arena as part of ID Athletic Women’s Round with the Wolfpack fresh off beating Cockburn on the road on Friday while Mandurah hadn’t played since losing in Geraldton the previous Saturday night.

The Magic were then able to stick with the Wolves in the opening half with scores tied at quarter-time and then the home side only leading narrowly 47-44 by the major break.

But Joondalup broke the game open in the third quarter putting up 32 points while holding Mandurah to just 14. That proved enough to secure the eventual 101-80 victory as the Wolves improved their season record to 9-3 and the Magic slipped to 2-9 having lost four in-a-row.

It was an impressive and efficient performance from the Wolves who shot 34/76 at 44 per cent from the field, 13/30 at 43 per cent from three-point range and 20/22 at 90 per cent from the foul line. They also finished the game with 41 rebounds, 26 assists and 15 turnovers.

Mandurah didn’t play too badly either shooting at 48 per cent from the field and 33 per cent from deep, but they only got to the line nine times for the night and had 18 turnovers while being outrebounded by five.

Ridell Camidge stepped up for the Wolves just 24 hours after Kevin Davis was the man to shine. Camidge finished with 21 points, eight rebounds and three assists while nailing 4/9 from downtown.

Trian Iliadis produced 15 points and four assists for Joondalup while Davis had 14 points and five rebounds, Earnest Ross 13 points, eight assists, six boards and six steals, and Rob Huntington 13 points and five rebounds.

Travis Durnin (four rebounds, three steals, two assists), Shaun Stewart (10 rebounds, five assists) and Marvin Smith (five boards, two steals) all scored 22 points each for the Magic but they didn’t receive enough help despite Akau Deng’s nine points and 11 rebounds.

ID ATHLETIC PERRY LAKES HAWKS 94 lost to NORTHERN STAR RESOURCES GOLDFIELDS GIANTS 101

A strong response from the Perry Lakes Hawks was expected on Saturday night following their big loss to Rockingham on Friday, but the travelling Goldfields Giants arrived in Perth on a mission and produced the seven-point victory.

The Giants arrived from Kalgoorlie to play their only game of the season at Bendat Basketball Centre for the season unless they take on Perry Lakes in the playoffs or reach the Grand Final. But suddenly after Saturday night, neither of those possibilities seem a stretch.

Perry Lakes added Shawn Redhage to its line-up for Friday night but ended up losing big by 24 points on the same floor to the Rockingham Flames.

As defending champs and having won seven of their past eight games coming into Round 9, a strong response by the Hawks was expected and they did start well.

But the Giants worked their way into the contest to level scores up by quarter-time and Perry Lakes only led by the slenderest of margins, 46-45 at half-time.

Goldfields then came out after half-time and were able to put some distance between them and the Hawks. The Giants would end up leading by as much as 13 points through the second half and ended up winning the game 101-94.

The win improved Goldfields to 7-4 on the season and 3-3 on the road while Perry Lakes slipped to 7-5 with the two Round 9 losses on their home court.

There were plenty of standout performers from the Giants with Mayo Malek producing his best performance of the season with 26 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots on shooting 11/18 from the field.

Jay Bowie stepped up too for 26 points, five rebounds and four assists with Patrick Burke continuing his stunning season with 24 points and seven rebounds and David Humphries also had 22 points, nine boards and assists while also nailing 4/7 from three-point range.

Clint Steindl bounced back from a tough shooting night on Friday to score 30 points for Perry Lakes on 11/23 shooting from the floor and 6/14 from downtown.

Ryan Smith added 15 points and five rebounds while going 5/12 from deep for the Hawks with Kyle Sovine contributing 15 points and two steals, Ben Purser 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and Shawn Redhage six points, 13 assists and six boards.

QUADRIO EARTHMOVING GERALDTON BUCCANEERS 66 lost to KALAMUNDA EASTERN SUNS 73

The Kalamunda Eastern Suns produced their best defensive performance of the season and showed their potential with a seven-point road victory over the Geraldton Buccaneers on Saturday night.

The Eastern Suns made the trip to Geraldton and were locked in defensively from the opening, holding the Buccs to just 23 points the entire second half and 66 points on the night.

The Suns were able to restrict the Buccaneers to shooting 29 per cent from the field and to only getting to the line 12 times. Even though the Buccs only had nine turnovers for the night but the Eastern Suns did score 16 points off those.

It was a tremendous all-round performance from the Eastern Suns as they handed Geraldton its first home loss at Active West Stadium for the season. Not only did they hold the Buccs to their lowest score of the season, but their lowest by 19 points with their previous low being 85 against Goldfields.

The win improves the Eastern Suns to a 6-7 record on the season with them being particularly impressive at 4-2 on the road under new coach Mark Utley. The Buccs are now 7-3 following the loss.

Josh Braun top-scored for Kalamunda with 21 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three steals. He only shot 5/17 from the floor but did well getting to the rack where he was rewarded and went 7/9 from the foul line.

Louis Timms added 17 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots for the Eastern Suns while Logan Viskovich produced 12 points, Ryan Blanchett nine points and 12 rebounds, and Corey Easley nine points, six boards, two assists and two blocks.

Aaron Ralph top-scored for the Buccs with 17 points and nine rebounds on shooting 5/12 from long-range.

Colter Lasher also had 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists, Marcus Alipate 11 points, five boards and four assists, Liam Hunt 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Brayden Inger seven points, six boards, two assists and two steals.

CMTG EAST PERTH EAGLES 88 defeated LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 82

It hadn’t been the smoothest ride for the East Perth Eagles men heading into Saturday night’s home clash and then when they fell behind early against the Lakeside Lightning the signs were ominous, but what coach Adam Forde saw from there is what he hopes they can now continue.

Lakeside regained Jarrad Prue for the game while losing Michael Vigor, but were closer to full strength with Jack Isenbarger in the line-up for his second game back from last year’s horrific broken leg.

East Perth had some improved manpower despite the absence of Andrej Donlagic and Matthew Leary with Dennis Tawhiti settling back in and Shaquille Mahary on board, but it was the Lightning that made the flying start.

Jobi Wall scored Lakeside’s first five points of the game and when Isenbarger converted a tech foul on Adam Forde, the Lightning were building good momentum up 12-5. That became 14-5 with a Jake Whately layup before Isenbarger knocked down a triple.

Isenbarger nailed another from downtown as Lakeside was up 20-7 after five minutes before East Perth slowly worked back into the contest. But the Lightning still led 34-25 after one.

But the Eagles were getting some contributions from plenty of sources including a Ned Seery turnaround jumper to open the second period. Isenbarger did convert a four-point play to keep his team up nine, but Drew Williamson was warming to the task nicely.

Aiden Murphy not only was running the team well and playing strong defence, but nailed a three to bring East Perth within five and when Williamson also converted from downtown, suddenly scores were level with two minutes left in the half.

Cameron Williams got to basket to make a layup on the half-time buzzer to ensure scores were still level at 45-all at the break.

It was basket for basket for much of the third quarter in a high-quality contest with East Perth making the first breaking moving up four when Williamson hit again from three-point territory.

Debutant Muhary then got to the rim to give East Perth a six-point lead but the Lightning scored the next six points in quick time. The Eagles were back up three with a triple from Kieran Berry and they were still up 64-62 with one to play.

Wall levelled scores back up to open the fourth quarter before Muhary again showed a glimpse of what he can provide the Eagles with a good move inside to score. Murphy stretched the lead to five with six minutes to go before Muhary and Williams combined to stretch their lead to seven.

Williams hit two free-throws and then a triple on the next play to put the Eagles up 10 and while the Lightning kept coming and did close back within four, East Perth wasn’t going to let it slip and won by six.

East Perth captain Drew Williamson put his team on his back with 23 points, four assists and three rebounds including going 5/10 from downtown.

Cameron Williams was energetic and important despite shooting 5/15, finishing with 19 points, eight rebounds, four steals and three assists.

Aiden Murphy also had 13 points, five rebounds and three assists for the Eagles with Jermaine Mallie contributing eight points and Shaquille Mahary eight to go with three rebounds.

Rowan Mackenzie tried his best to lift Lakeside to another win finishing with 24 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Jobi Wall finished with 15 points and six rebounds for Lakeside while Kyle Armour had 14 points, three rebounds and three assists on his 30th birthday against the team he led to the 2014 championship.

Jack Isenbarger had 13 points, six rebounds and five assists while Jarrad Prue returned from a hamstring injury for six points and 15 boards.

PRINT SYNC SOUTH WEST SLAMMERS 64 lost to BETHANIE WARWICK SENATORS 101

The South West Slammers will have to wait at least another week for their first win of 2019 with the Warwick Senators continuing their hot form by going south and coming away with a 37-point win.

The Senators went down to Eaton Recreation Centre as the hottest team in the league having won their past six matches including two wins inside 24 hours the previous weekend over the Rockingham Flames and Joondalup Wolves.

The Slammers were back on their home floor despite to get their first win under coach John Triscari, but it wasn’t to be with Warwick starting strongly and soon putting the game out of reach.

Along the way, the Senators went on a 15-0 scoring run and led by as much as 41 points. They led by seven points at quarter-time, 22 at half-time, 31 at three quarter-time and then ended up winning the game 101-64.

The win was a seventh in-a-row for Warwick who now sits on top of the Men’s SBL at 8-2 while the Slammers have lost their first 11 games of 2019.

It was a remarkable dominance on the boards from the Senators as they pulled in 58 rebounds to 33 including scoring 29 second chance points on the 28 offensive boards. Warwick also forced South West into 23 turnovers for 26 points from those.

Ngor Manyang was supremely impressive for the Senators top-scoring with 19 points, seven rebounds and four steals.

Cody Ellis ended up with 18 points, five steals and two rebounds including shooting 4/8 from beyond the three-point line.

Ash Litterick contributed 16 points and 13 rebounds for Warwick while Justin King finished with 10 points, two rebounds and two assists, Rob Anshila nine points, six boards, three assists and two steals, and Wani Swaka Lo Buluk seven points, five rebounds and five assists.

Michael Lay finished with 21 points, six steals and five assists for the Slammers with Brody England producing 20 points, and Tyler Livingston 15 points, four rebounds and three blocked shots.

SUNDAY

TEXTURE WA PERTH REDBACKS 92 lost to NORTHERN STAR RESOURCES GOLDFIELDS GIANTS 100

The round concluded on Sunday afternoon between two in-form teams in the Perth Redbacks and Goldfields Giants at Belmont Oasis.

Both teams had already won earlier in the weekend with the Redbacks beating Willetton on Friday night to make it four straight wins while Goldfields started its double-header road trip on Saturday winning impressively over Perry Lakes.

It turned out to be a tremendous contest as well between the teams that are playing good basketball right now.

It was a tight opening quarter with scores tied at 21-21 by quarter-time but just before half-time, the Redbacks had began to pull away leading by seven on the back of Marshall Nelson hitting his team’s last 11 points of the half.

But the Giants stayed just four points behind when Dave Humphries hit a triple for the last score of the opening half.

The Giants then worked their way on top throughout the second half. The visitors ended up putting up 35 points in the third quarter to heading into three quarter-time leading 78-73.

Goldfields then finished the job to win 100-92 and make it three wins in-a-row to improve to an 8-4 record. Perth’s four-game winning run came to an end with the Redbacks now 6-7.

It was an outstanding shooting performance from Goldfields as they went 35/67 from the floor at 52 per cent, 12/24 at 50 per cent from downtown and 18/22 at 81 per cent from the foul line.

They also had 28 assists on their 35 made field goals despite 21 turnovers from which the Redbacks scored 17 points off. The Redbacks shot 41 per cent from the field and 22 per cent from long-range, but only got to the line nine times.

Patrick Burke produced the biggest game of his short professional basketball career leading the Giants with 37 points, eight rebounds and two assists on shooting 13/22 from the floor, 2/3 from three-point range and 9/11 from the charity stripe.

Jay Bowie added 22 points, nine assists and eight rebounds with David Humphries contributing 16 points, 13 boards and eight assists, Brandon Holloway eight points, four assists, three rebounds and two steals, and Mayo Malek eight points and six boards.

Marshall Nelson had another big performance for the Redbacks scoring 27 points to go with eight rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Jourdan DeMuynck added 24 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals for Perth while Zac Gattorna added 15 points, eight boards and four assists, Majier Garang 10 points, 10 rebounds, three steals, two assists and two blocks, and Joel Wagner nine points and 10 assists.