Week Two MSBL Wrap

Southlands Boulevard Willetton Tigers defeated Skilled Goldfields Giants 110-108 in the biggest upset of round two of the men’s State Basketball League.

The Giants’ loss continued its poor start to the season, with last year’s second placed side which lost only five games having lost two of its three games and sitting ninth.

Guard Alex Prince was the catalyst for Willetton’s victory with 37 points including six three-pointers from nine attempts, while seven-footer Daniel Johnson added 27 and had nine rebounds.

Todd Earle provided the best resistance for the Giants, with 22 points from 28 minutes. Another significant upset was Rockingham Flames’ 105-101 overtime victory against Australian Central East Perth Eagles.

East Perth won its first two games of the season but trailed by 13 at half-time to put it in a tough position. An impressive final quarter comeback saw it take the game to overtime, but it was outplayed in the extra period.

Rockingham only allowed the Eagles to make 33.3 percent of its field goal attempts in overtime and out rebounded it 7-3 to win its second match of the season.

Rhett Della Maddalena was at his best for the Flames with 33 points and 18 rebounds, while Tom Jervis had 27 and 20 for the Eagles, who were missing fellow big man Sam Harris due to the Perth Wildcats Ball.

Rockingham weren’t quite as impressive on Friday night, however, falling 77-109 to Lakeside Lightning.

Luke Payne had 26 points and Jarrod Prue got 22 points and 20 boards to lead the defending champions to a comfortable victory.

Wildcats development player Marko Deric top scored for the Flames with 15 points.

The Lightning were equally impressive the next night, defeating Carpet Court Southwest Slammers 101-75.

Import Benjamin Beran was Lakeside’s best with 24 points, while Prue once again had 20 rebounds to go with 18 points. Nathan Van Dijk scored 18 in an impressive shooting performance for Southwest.

Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers continued its unbeaten start to the season with a 118-110 win over Titan Interactive Wanneroo Wolves in a battle of two of the best teams in 2009.

Ryan Zamroz provided an incredible performance with 47 points and six assists for Geraldton. The import guard is now averaging 39.3 points from his three matches this season.

Reece Maxwell (25) top scored for the Wolves in its first loss for the season.

Cockburn Cougars defeated AND1 Kalamunda Eastern Suns 100-84 to claim its first win of the year.

Luke Callier had 22 points for the Cougars while Bryce Burch had 15 points and 13 rebounds. Kenneth Brunner and Adrian Majstrovich had 19 points each for the Suns, who trailed by seven at the first break and were never able to recover.

Mandurah Magic took advantage of Southside Mitsubishi Perth Redbacks being without stars Joel Wagner, Jesse Wagstaff and Jarrod Prior to win 119-101.

The trio were absent due to the Wildcats Ball, which provided the Magic with a great opportunity to win its first match of the season.

The form of import Casey Crevelone, who had 29 points, allowed the Magic to take a 17 point lead at the first break and never look back. Jon Meriweather had 36 points and 13 rebounds for the Redbacks.

Perth did much better on Friday night, defeating Perry Lakes Hawks 117-87.

Prior had 26 points, Meriweather 21 and Wagner 20 for the Redbacks, while Ben Purser had 19 and 10 rebounds for the Hawks, who trailed by 18 at quarter time and were never able to get back in the match.

Perry Lakes did make amends with a stunning 140-84 win over Cockburn the next night however.

NBL guard Peter Crawford returned for the Hawks, who remarkably scored at least 32 points in every quarter, in impressive fashion with 28 points, while Purser also had 28 and Martin Vahala 21. Burch had 26 points for Cockburn.

East Perth beat Stirling Senators 103-92, thanks in large part to 23 points and 10 rebounds from Ben Thompson. Geordie Cullen scored 30 for the Senators.

Article by Jacob Kagi
Photo by Helen Theoharakis




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