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THE Lakeside Lightning thumped the Goldfields Giants in the Men’s SBL on Saturday night while the Geraldton Buccaneers, Joondalup Wolves and Cockburn Cougars took out hard fought wins and the Mandurah Magic won a heart stopper over the Kalamunda Eastern Suns.

Round 10 in the Men’s SBL began on Friday night with two matches that saw the Lakeside Lightning beat the Mandurah Magic 106-80 and the Perth Redbacks defeat the Rockingham Flames 110-87.

Things on Saturday night got underway with the Lakeside Lightning impressing again beating the Goldfields Giants 122-69. The Geraldton Buccaneers also defeated the Perry Lakes Hawks 91-81.

Clint Steindl then made his debut for the Cockburn Cougars helping them to an 87-76 win over the East Perth Eagles while the Joondalup Wolves defeated the Willetton Tigers 83-68 and the Mandurah Magic downed the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 101-100.

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The Eagles hosted the Cougars on Saturday night at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre, with Cockburn unveiling its newest recruit in the form of Perth Wildcats star shooting guard Clint Steindl.

Having previously played in the NBL with the Cairns Taipans and Townsville Crocodiles following his college career at St Mary’s while also having played for the Australian Boomers too, Steindl joined the Wildcats midway through the 2017/18 NBL season and is locked in for 2018/19 too.

After a break following the end of the season, he played his first game since the NBL campaign ended on Saturday night suiting up in the SBL for the first time with the Cougars and he helped his team to the hard fought 11-point win over the Eagles.

East Perth started strongly to lead 24-20 at quarter-time and then still be up 47-42 at the half, but Cockburn got going in the second half largely on the back of captain Gavin Field to outscore the Eagles 26 points to 11 in the third period to set up the eventual 11-point win.

The win improves the Cougars to a 5-7 record on the season while the Eagles slip to 5-9.

Field top-scored again for Cockburn with 21 points, nine rebounds and two assists but he received plenty of help on the night.

Brandon Sebirumbi finished with 16 points and six rebounds with Jaarod Holmes contributing 14 points and four boards, and Jake Harris six points and two assists after they lost Julian Pesava early in the contest.

Steindl finished the night with 17 points, eight assists and five rebounds on shooting 4/10 from the field, 3/6 from long range and 6/8 from the free-throw line.

He enjoyed his first hit out for the Cougars and is now looking forward to backing it up Sunday at Wally Hagan Stadium against Willetton.

“It felt good out there. I think for the most part you are coming into a new environment and trying to fit in, and do what you are meant to while I’m here to help and fit in. For me that’s really to make plays and shoot the ball, and get some miles into the legs, get some rhythm and a lot of reps,” Steindl said.

“It’s a good start. I hadn’t played since early March so it’s been a while but it was a good first hit out. I probably do need to try and be a bit more aggressive moving forward, but we’ll get there.

“We back it up tomorrow and I haven’t played a back-to-back like this in a while. But that goes with the nature of the sport sometimes and I’ll prepare the best I can to do it all over again in my first game at home for Cockburn.”

Drew Williamson had a terrific battle all night with Field and the Eagles captain and former NBL veteran of 190 games finished with 28 points, seven assists and three rebounds on 10/20 shooting from the floor and 7/7 from the free-throw line.

Jonathan Morse added 19 points and 10 rebounds for East Perth with Corey Easley contributing 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Saturday night’s action began at Lakeside Recreation Centre with the Lightning hosting the Giants.

Lakeside was on a high after beating the Magic in Mandurah on Friday night and continued on that momentum against the Giants.

The Lightning piled on 34 points in the first quarter to lead by 19 at quarter-time and went on with it from there to win by 53 points to improve to 6-7 while the Giants remained on the bottom at 2-9.

Bryan Michaels showed just how valuable a pick up he’s going to be for the Lightning with 22 points, two assists and two steals on the back of shooting 6/10 from three-point range.

Young gun Hayden Bell top-scored, though, with 24 points and five rebounds with Daniel Alexander contributing 19 points, 11 boards and six assists, Jarrad Prue 10 points and 10 rebounds, and John Isenbarger nine points, six assists and three boards.

It was tough going for the Giants with Jeylyn Sharpe finishing with 18 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals, and Kyle Sovine 18 points and six boards. Billy Hicks also had 11 points.

It was a much closer affair at Active West Stadium with the Buccs hosting the Hawks on Saturday night.

Perry Lakes made a good start on the road too to lead by four at quarter-time and still be on top 46-43 at the break. But the Buccs got on top through the second half to end up winning by 10 points and improve to a 10-3 record with the Hawks slipping to 6-6.

Import swingman Colter Lasher top-scored for the Buccaneers with 19 points, 13 rebounds and three assists with Liam Hunt delivering 18 points, nine boards, three assists, two blocks and two steals in just 21 minutes of court time.

Gokul Natesan added 13 points, three assists, two rebounds and two steals too for Geraldton while Mat Wundenberg finished with 12 points and four rebounds, and Earnest Ross 10 points and nine boards.

Ryan Smith top-scored for Perry Lakes with 15 points, nine rebounds and three assists with Jacob Holmen contributing 14 points and nine boards.

Ben Purser also had 13 points, eight rebounds and two assists, Lochlan Cummings 11 points, four assists and three rebounds, Jordan Hickert 10 points and Dan Thomas nine points and five assists.

Two teams who have been anchored in the top four the past two seasons and look like being there again in 2018 met at Willetton Basketball Stadium with the Tigers hosting the Wolfpack.

Willetton put its six-match winning streak on the line but did so without Jay Bowie and the Wolves started strongly and stayed on top to end up winning by 15 points.

The win keeps Joondalup clear on top of the table at 11-1 while Willetton slips to 7-4 ahead of its clash against Cockburn on Sunday.

Jalen Billups top-scored for the Wolves with 17 points and 11 rebounds with fellow import Brian Sullivan delivering 16 points and three assists.

Trian Iliadis added 11 points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals for the Wolves too while Chris Clausen contributed 10 points and Rob Huntington nine to go with seven rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots.

Badou Diagne did what he could for Willetton finishing the night with 18 points and nine rebounds while Damien Scott added 17 points, six boards, four assists and two steals.

Captain Kyle Armour also had 14 points and seven assists for the Tigers.

The final game of the night was then the nail-biter with he Eastern Suns hosting the Magic at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

Kalamunda started well to lead 24-18 at quarter-time but Mandurah had the better of the second period to lead 52-49 at the break.

The Eastern Suns got back on top in the third quarter but again the Magic responded with 24 points to 18 in the fourth to claim the one-point win on the back of Frank Fimmano hitting the clutch free-throw after Louis Timms drilled a three to tie scores.

But Timms was then called for an unsportsmanlike foul and Fimmano hit the second with the Magic then having possession to ice the win in the most controversial of circumstances. That also ended with an unsportsmanlike foul on Jono Diaz.

Jamal Shabazz had a monster game for Mandurah finishing with 39 points, six rebounds, five steals and three assists on the back of shooting 9/14 from the field and a remarkable 20/20 from the free-throw line.

Shaun Stewart added 23 points, six assists and three rebounds for Mandurah with Chudier Pal contributing 14 points and nine boards, and Fletcher Klasztorny 14 points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists.

Louis Timms played his best game of the season for Kalamunda with 19 points while nailing 6/10 from beyond the three-point arc.

Kevin Davis added 16 points and 17 rebounds for the Eastern Suns, Kerrod Horn 15 points, five assists and three boards, Courtney Belger 14 points and seven assists, Logan Viskovich 13 points, three rebounds and three steals, and Ryan Blanchett 12 points, four boards and three steals.

WEEK 10 MEN’S SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Mandurah Magic 80 lost to Lakeside Lightning 106
Rockingham Flames 87 lost to Perth Redbacks 110

SATURDAY
Lakeside Lightning 122 defeated Goldfields Giants 69
Geraldton Buccaneers 91 defeated Perry Lakes Hawks 81
Willetton Tigers 68 lost to Joondalup Wolves 83
East Perth Eagles 76 lost to Cockburn Cougars 87
Kalamunda Eastern Suns 100 lost to Mandurah Magic 101

SUNDAY
Joondalup Wolves v Goldfields Giants – HBF Arena 12.00pm
Cockburn Cougars v Willetton Tigers – Wally Hagan Stadium 2.00pm
Stirling Senators v South West Slammers – Warwick Stadium 4.00pm