Where has this team been all season?? A desperate undermanned Willetton Tigers Men’s team has come back from 10 points down in a tense final quarter to beat the previously unbeaten Lakeside Lightning 78-77 in a thriller at the Boulevarde on Saturday night. In the first meeting since the Tigers prevailed in last year’s Grand Final, the atmosphere was electric from the start.

While the Lightning were missing their leading scorer Ben Beran who was a late withdrawal due to a back injury, the Tigers were without a host of regular players but still eked out the victory. Tigers Import, Rob Kampman, defied doctor’s orders and played with an infected eye. But it was the inside presence of centre Travis Moore and Mark Jones who collectively scored 38 points and pulled down 25 rebounds that proved most deadly in the end.

“Rob literally could not see our of his right eye” according to Tigers Head Coach Shayne Hampel. “We left it up to Rob. He said he would see how he went. I guess 16 points and 13 rebounds is a great performance given his ailment. He played with only one contact lens in. I guess he doesn’t need to look when he shoots”.

The Tigers were up by 5 at the half but a dominant Lakeside 3rd quarter had the Lightning turning for home in front with their tails up. They grew the lead to as much as 10 in the last quarter before a stirring revival by the Tigers. With 29 seconds to go the Lightning were up by 1 before a Troy Thomson jump shot with 4 seconds to go put the Tigers up, eventually for good. The Lightning called a time out and had the ball from the sideline but a desperation shot from Luke Payne as the clock ran down rimmed out giving the Tigers the victory.

Payne was outstanding all night. He finished with a game high 28 points. Rebounding machine Jarrad Prue had 18 rebounds for the night. The Tigers defence did a good job on restricting the other Lightning scorers.

Hampel was clearly over the moon with the victory. “Obviously a huge win for us. You know when you play Lightning that you are in for a war. They are the best defensive team in the league and the best scoring team also. They are a great challenge every time we play. If only our guys would come with the same attitude every week as tonight. We are still learning to play together. Hopefully this is the start of our year.”

The win was critical for the Tigers who have had an inconsistent start to the year. Their record improves to 2 wins from 5 games after a disappointing loss to bottom placed Stirling on Friday night.

Earlier in the night the Tigers women kept their unbeaten record intact with a 70-56 victory over Lakeside. It was the usual suspects who turned around a half time deficit to run out relatively easy winners. Melissa Marsh top scored with 23 points and 11 rebounds with fellow Waves member Kate Malpass scoring 19. Jasmine Hooper was a standout also with a massive 21 rebounds to go with 16 points. The women easily accounted for Stirling on Friday night with an 89-52 demolition.

Article by Willetton Tigers
Photo by Grant Lauterbach