Final day drama sees Stirling rise, Eagles fall (Saturday Night Wrap)
East Perth Eagles' men's State Basketball League title hopes have been dealt a huge blow by a 135-131 overtime loss to an under-strength Perth Redbacks side on an incredible final day of the regular season.
The Eagles would have finished fifth and had a favourable finals draw had they won, but their defeat and Stirling Senators' amazing 129-115 come-from-behind overtime win against Wanneroo Wolves saw East Perth finish eighth.
That means the Eagles will need to conquer minor premiers Lakeside in the best-of-three quarter-finals which begin next weekend and that will be an incredibly difficult task, given the Lightning have won their past 16 games.
The Redbacks overcame the absence of big men Jesse Wagstaff and Daniel Maddox to survive an East Perth comeback and earn a win which meant they finished sixth and will face Cockburn Cougars, who beat Mandurah 112-80, in the first round of the finals.
The heroics of import Lee Roberts (41 points) saw Stirling avoid a nightmare match-up with Lakeside by overturning a deficit with less than one minute left in regulation to beat the Wolves. The Senators finished fifth and will face Perry Lakes Hawks in the quarter-finals.
Wanneroo will meet defending champions Willetton in the other quarter-final series after the tiebreaker saw the Tigers fall to seventh.
Elsewhere, Lakeside capped off an incredible regular season by thrashing the winless Southwest 121-72, Geraldton Buccaneers beat Kalamunda Eastern Suns 101-86 and Goldfields Giants defeated Rockingham Flames 94-90.
In the women's league, East Perth beat Perth 74-59, which saw the Eagles finish third and book a quarter-finals match-up with Kalamunda, while Mandurah beat Cockburn 79-68, Lakeside thrashed the Slammers 86-66 and Wanneroo were 87-48 winners against Stirling.
Minor premiers Willetton face the Lightning, Perry Lakes faces seventh-placed Cockburn and fourth seed Mandurah is up against Wanneroo in the other women's quarter-finals match-ups.
Article by Jacob Kagi
Photo by Mick Cronin
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