Saturday Night SBL Wrap
Perth Redbacks scored an upset 98-91 victory to put an early dent in Willetton Tigers’ men’s State Basketball League title defence.
Former Perth Wildcats forward Adrian Majstrovich had 29 points at half-time on his way to 42 for the match in his Redbacks debut and his heroics were enough to overcome the Tigers.
Willetton trailed by as many as 12 in the opening round clash before they cut the deficit to one with 60 seconds left, but a Ryan Neill three-pointer in the final seconds clinched Perth’s victory.
The Tigers lost three of their championship-winning starting five in the off-season, while they were also without Cam Tovey and Matthew Knight due to their Wildcats commitments, and those absences proved too much despite the best efforts of new import Robert Kampman (33 points).
Mandurah Magic caused a major upset with a 91-69 thrashing of 2010 semi-finalists Geraldton Buccaneers.
The Magic suffered a 27-point loss to East Perth the night before but Andrew Bowman (29 points) led a much improved performance against the Buccaneers.
Goldfields Giants also suffered a shock loss, falling 85-80 to Kalamunda Eastern Suns.
The Suns finished 13th last year and lost by 27 points to Lakeside on Friday night, but new import Dean Hadley led them to an unlikely victory with 31 points. Matthew Rosinski top-scored for Goldfields with 28.
Wildcats development player Greg Hire had 25 points to help Wanneroo Wolves to a 94-79 victory over Perry Lakes Hawks.
The Wolves trailed narrowly at quarter-time but controlled the match from there, despite the best efforts of Anthony Lee (29 points).
Import Ty Harrelson (23 points) starred in Cockburn Cougars’ 90-70 victory against Stirling Senators.
In women’s action, defending champions Willetton cruised to an 83-58 victory over Perth, Wanneroo beat Perry Lakes 71-63 and Cockburn defeated Stirling 61-51.
Article by Jacob Kagi
Photo by Marg Prior
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