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THE Cockburn Cougars continued their resurgence after a tough start to 2019 with an impressive 102-88 win over the Lakeside Lightning on Easter Thursday with Matt Vinci enjoying his first outing against his former team.

The Cougars lost their opening four games of the Men’s SBL season but they continued their momentum from last week where they beat the Kalamunda Eastern Suns and South West Slammers at Wally Hagan Stadium on Thursday night.

While the Lightning might have been without Jarrad Prue, Michael Vigor and Jack Isenbarger, it was a strong showing by Cockburn to come away with the 14-point win with Gavin Field receiving plenty of help with six Cougars players scoring in double-figures on the night.

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Cockburn did lose its opening four games of the season meaning their double-header last weekend was crucial to avoiding a disastrous start.

The Cougars responded with the impressive wins against the Eastern Suns and Slammers but they were going to have to go up another gear on Easter Thursday on their home floor against the Lightning.

Lakeside won its first three games of the season before losing to the Joondalup Wolves, but they responded last Friday night to beat the Willetton Tigers meaning they headed into Thursday’s clash sitting pretty at 4-1.

Lakeside then came out and produced a stunning opening to the game scoring the first eight points made up of threes from Nick Palleschi and Rowan Mackenzie, and another layup from Mackenzie.

Jaarod Holmes eventually got the Cougars on the board with his team’s first four points and when Seva Chan drained a triple, the home team was quickly back into the contest and they then led 10-9 with a Gavin Field three-pointer.

Field then made it 12-9 with Cockburn on a 10-0 run before going on to lead 24-17 by quarter-time.

The Cougars continued that momentum in the second quarter and were in control of the contest at half-time leading 48-37.

Lakeside started the second half impressively too starting with a Palleschi triple and Kyle Armour jumper but Cockburn had regained a 13-point lead by the time Chan drained another from long-range.

Field hit another from downtown to put Cockburn up by 14 but Lakeside kept fighting and were soon within seven before ex-Lakeside guard Matt Vinci started to feel it and nailed a three.

He converted a three-point play directly after that and added another and-one before three quarter-time to help the Cougars lead 73-64 despite Lakeside hitting the quarter’s last five points thanks to Armour.

It was all Cockburn in the fourth quarter with the home team going on to lead by as much as 22 points before winning by 14 points to improve to 3-4 on the season while the Lightning are now 4-2.

It was a hot shooting night for the Cougars with the home side ending up going 40/66 from the field at 60 per cent along with 12/27 from three-point territory at 44 per cent on the back of 30 assists.

The Lightning didn’t shoot too badly either going 35/75 from the field at 46 per cent but in the end Cockburn knocking down 12 triples to go with 52 points inside the paint saw them able to make the most of a Lakeside team down on size in the absence of Jarrad Prue and Michael Vigor.

Cougars coach Adam Nener was delighted with the showing from his group to back up last week’s two wins.

“I think that’s definitely the best game we’ve played all year so far. It’s a credit to the boys, we’ve been working a lot the last couple of weeks on our defensive positioning and knowing what to do on defence,” Nener said.

“But also on offence and this was the first time we actually swung the ball and were really patient. I was proud of the 30 assists we had for the game as a team. Coaches are never happy all the time and we’d like to get the turnovers down a little bit more, but a win is a win and we’ll take that any time.”

Gavin Field had another monster game for the Cougars finishing with 32 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals while shooting 13/20 from the field, 3/8 from downtown and 3/4 from the foul line.

He received enormous support too led by former Lakeside point guard Matt Vinci enjoying his first game against the team he played 125 games with. He ended up with 15 points in just 22 minutes while draining three triples.

Seva Chan had an impressively efficient night too with 15 points and seven assists, shooting 6/9 from the floor and 3/5 from deep.

Jake Harris added 12 points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals for Cockburn with Eric Milam adding 12 points and four rebounds, and Jaarod Holmes 10 points, four boards and four assists.

Nener was especially happy to have so many players provide great support to Field.

“We need guys to help Gav out a lot. I think we had six players in double-figures and Matt Vinci came on in that second half and was just really good for us,” Nener said.

“People are starting to understand their roles now and what to do, but it’s a long season and we’ve got two tough games coming up with Rockingham at Rockingham next week, and then we go to Kalgoorlie the week after. We can’t rest on this win, we need to keep working hard.”

Cougars coach Adam Nener was delighted with the showing from his group to back up last week’s two wins.

“I think that’s definitely the best game we’ve played all year so far. It’s a credit to the boys, we’ve been working a lot the last couple of weeks on our defensive positioning and knowing what to do on defence,” Nener said.

“But also on offence and this was the first time we actually swung the ball and were really patient. I was proud of the 30 assists we had for the game as a team. Coaches are never happy all the time and we’d like to get the turnovers down a little bit more, but a win is a win and we’ll take that any time.”

Gavin Field had another monster game for the Cougars finishing with 32 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals while shooting 13/20 from the field, 3/8 from downtown and 3/4 from the foul line.

He received enormous support too led by former Lakeside point guard Matt Vinci enjoying his first game against the team he played 125 games with. He ended up with 15 points in just 22 minutes while draining three triples.

Seva Chan had an impressively efficient night too with 15 points and seven assists, shooting 6/9 from the floor and 3/5 from deep.

Jake Harris added 12 points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals for Cockburn with Eric Milam adding 12 points and four rebounds, and Jaarod Holmes 10 points, four boards and four assists.

Nener was especially happy to have so many players provide great support to Field.

“We need guys to help Gav out a lot. I think we had six players in double-figures and Matt Vinci came on in that second half and was just really good for us,” Nener said.

“People are starting to understand their roles now and what to do, but it’s a long season and we’ve got two tough games coming up with Rockingham at Rockingham next week, and then we go to Kalgoorlie the week after. We can’t rest on this win, we need to keep working hard.”

Gavin Field had another monster game for the Cougars finishing with 32 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals while shooting 13/20 from the field, 3/8 from downtown and 3/4 from the foul line.

He received enormous support too led by former Lakeside point guard Matt Vinci enjoying his first game against the team he played 125 games with. He ended up with 15 points in just 22 minutes while draining three triples.

Seva Chan had an impressively efficient night too with 15 points and seven assists, shooting 6/9 from the floor and 3/5 from deep.

Jake Harris added 12 points, two rebounds, two assists and two steals for Cockburn with Eric Milam adding 12 points and four rebounds, and Jaarod Holmes 10 points, four boards and four assists.

Rowan Mackenzie started the game hot for Lakeside and ended up top-scoring with 27 points, five assists, three rebounds and three steals.

Jobi Wall, fresh off his Player of the Round showing, had 19 points, seven rebounds and three steals for the Lightning with Kyle Armour contributing 17 points and four assists, and Josh Davey 13 points and eight rebounds.

MEN’S SBL FIXTURES – WEEK 6
THURSDAY
ID Athletic Perry Lakes Hawks 98 defeated Willetton Tigers 81
CMTG East Perth Eagles 80 lost to Kalamunda Eastern Suns 94
Prestige Honda Melville Cockburn Cougars 102 defeated Lakeside Lightning 88
Chambers Franklyn Joondalup City Wolves 92 lost to Sinclair McDonald’s Rockingham Flames 98
Mandurah Magic 94 defeated Print Sync South West Slammers 88
Bethanie Warwick Senators 106 defeated Texture WA Perth Redbacks 84