WHETHER or not it was Mandurah or Joondalup making the men's 2014 playoffs was always going to be decided by what happened on Saturday night, and that saw the Magic get the job done against the Slammers to end the season of the Wolves.

Either the Mandurah Magic or Joondalup Wolves were going to finish in the playoffs and one was going to miss out coming into the weekend, and it was all to be determined with the Magic's clash with the South West Slammers on Saturday night.

Mandurah won that match by 14 points to not only make the playoffs but end up in sixth position at the end of the regular season while the Wolves miss out on post-season action altogether despite having played off in last year's grand final and winning the 2011 championship.

The men's regular season finishes with the Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers (19-7) on top ahead of the Orange Autos Rockingham Flames (17-9), Perth Redbacks (17-9), Lakeside Lightning (16-10), Stirling Senators (16-10), Mandurah Magic (15-11), Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles (14-12) and Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers (14-12).

That means that Buccaneers will face the Slammers, the Flames take on the Eagles, the Redbacks battle the Magic and the Lighting tackle the Senators in the first round of the playoffs.

The Joondalup Wolves (14-12), Perry Lakes Hawks (11-15), Raw Nutrition Cockburn Cougars (10-16), Willetton Tigers (8-18), Kalamunda Eastern Suns (6-20) and Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants (5-21) all missed making the men's playoffs for 2014.

All three men's matches on Friday night had playoff implications with the Lakeside Lightning beating the Joondalup Wolves 109-98 at Lakeside Recreation Centre, the Mandurah Magic defeating the Willetton Tigers 138-121 at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre and the Stirling Senators hammering the Orange Autos Rockingham Flames 125-87 at Warwick Leisure Centre.

Then on Saturday night, the match to decide the last playoff spot saw the Mandurah Magic beat the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 102-88 at Eaton Recreation Centre.

The other Saturday night matches saw the Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers beat the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 110-104 at Active West Stadium and the Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants defeat the Perry Lakes Hawks 109-94 at Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium.

The Raw Nutrition Cockburn Cougars also downed the Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles 109-103 at Wally Hagan Stadium and the Perth Redbacks thrashed the Willetton Tigers 128-103 at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

Once again there were some stunning individual performances including three players scoring 40 or more points, nine players getting beyond 30 points and another 18 scoring at least 20.

On Friday night, Brad Tinsley led the way for the Lightning with 33 points, four assists and three rebounds while shooting 12-of-19 from the field.

Jesse Dixon contributed 16 points for Lakeside with Caleb Palkert adding 12 points and 13 rebounds, and Jarrad Prue 10 points, 18 boards, three blocked shots and two assists.

Trian Iliadis top-scored for the Wolves with 24 points, six rebounds and six assists with Rob Huntington adding 18 points and eight boards.

Seb Salinas also contributed 14 points, six rebounds and six assists with Ephrem Davis adding 13 points and nine boards, and Rhys Smith 13 points and five rebounds.

Captain Taylor Mullenax led the way for the Magic with 32 points, six rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots on the back of shooting 13-of-20 from the field and 5-of-7 from three-point range.

Ben Smith also finished with 30 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks for Mandurah with Paul Hafford adding 27 points, six boards and six assists.

Willetton imports Quinn McDowell and John Dickson did all they could with McDowell finishing with 42 points and eight rebounds while Dickson added 40 points, 12 boards, two steals and two blocked shots.

Jordan Wild top-scored for the Senators with 25 points, 17 rebounds, four assists and two steals while Cory Cooperwood adding 24 points, seven boards and five assists, Cody Ellis 21 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Ryan Godfrey top-scored for Rockingham with 20 points while Taylor Land added 14 points, Tom Remmerswaal 12, Andrew Bowman 12 and Travis Moore 12.

Then on Saturday night, Taylor Mullenax again led the way for the Magic with 26 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots with Trent Gerovich contributing 17 points, Ben Smith 17, Daniel Florance 16 and Rhett Della 12 to go with 13 rebounds.

Trent Worthington top-scored for the Slammers with 18 points and seven rebounds with Markus Monroe adding 16 points, Clive Weeden 12 (10 rebounds) and Wade Hitchcock 10.

Bennie Lewis had another terrific night for the Buccaneers finishing with 33 points, six rebounds and five assists while shooting 14-of-24 from the field and 3-of-7 from three-point territory.

Carter Cook also had a good showing for the Buccs with 29 points, 10 rebounds and five rebounds with Aaron Ralph contributing 25 points and six rebounds for Geraldton.

Adhar Mayen did all he could for the Suns in the final game of 2014 with 30 points, 12 rebounds and five assists with Ben Smith adding 26 points for Kalamunda and Joel Questel 18 to go with eight assists, three rebounds and three steals while shooting 6-of-13 from three-point range.

Duran Blue led the way for the Giants with 32 points, 11 assists, five rebounds and two steals on the back of shooting 11-of-19 from the floor.

Adrian Majstrovich also had another good night the Giants with 24 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Matthew Leske added 17 points also for Goldfields while Miles Tierney finished with 14 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Ben Purser had a strong finish to the season for the Hawks with 29 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals on the back of shooting 13-of-21 from the floor.

Justin Cecil also had 23 points, six rebounds and six assists for Perry Lakes while Corey Easley added 16 points, eight boards and four assists, and Josh Garlepp 13 points and 15 rebounds.

Damien Scott was the major reason why the Cougars were able to finish their season off on a winning note finishing with a massive 47 points, four rebounds and three assists while shooting 14-of-26 from the field 13-of-14 from the free-throw line.

Gavin Field gave him good support with 24 points and 12 rebounds with Jaarod Holmes adding 14 points and nine rebounds for Cockburn, and Seva Chan 10 points, six assists and five boards.

Kyle Armour top-scored for the Eagles with 25 points and five assists with Sunday Dech adding 20 points and nine rebounds, and Austin Kisselev 11 points and nine boards.

Stan Okoye once again starred for the Redbacks with 34 points, 13 rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots while hitting 15-of-25 from the floor.

Lee Roberts was equally effective for Perth with 33 points and 13 rebounds while Dennis Tawhiti contributed 23 points and 10 rebounds.

John Dickson had yet another huge individual game for the Tigers to close out the season with 39 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots on the back of shooting 14-of-26 from the field and 9-of-10 from the free-throw line.

Quinn McDowell also added 24 points and nine rebounds for Willetton while Mitchell Clarke scored 13 points.

FRIDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Lakeside Lightning 109 defeated Joondalup Wolves 98
Mandurah Magic 138 defeated Willetton Tigers 121
Stirling Senators 125 defeated Orange Autos Rockingham Flames 87

SATURDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers 110 defeated Kalamunda Eastern Suns 104
Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants 109 defeated Perry Lakes Hawks 94
Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 88 lost to Mandurah Magic 102
Raw Nutrition Cockburn Cougars 109 defeated Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles 103
Willetton Tigers 103 lost to Perth Redbacks 128

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Steve Brooks