Senators on the rise after dramatic final day (Round 19 MSBL Wrap)
ATD Stirling Senators were the biggest winners from one of the most dramatic final days to the regular season in men's State Basketball League history, but the story wasn't so good for defending champions Southlands Boulevarde Willetton Tigers.
The Senators looked set to face a daunting best-of-three quarter-finals series against dominant minor premiers Lakeside Lightning when they trailed Wanneroo Wolves on Saturday with just seconds remaining.
But Stirling fought back to send the game to overtime and controlled the extra period to upset their local rivals 129-115, which saw the Senators finish fifth but Willetton slump to seventh.
At the same time as Stirling's comeback, Perth Redbacks held off a late revival from Australian Central East Perth Eagles to win 135-131, also after overtime.
That meant the four teams battling for positions between fifth and eighth - Stirling, Willetton, Perth and East Perth - all finished tied with 15 wins, a scenario which worked perfectly for the Senators.
They finished top of the four-way head-to-head tiebreaker so finished fifth and will fancy their chances of upsetting fourth seed Total Connections Perry Lakes Hawks in the quarter-finals, which begin next weekend.
Willetton will have to upset second-placed Wanneroo to defend its title after it wasted the chance to guarantee fifth spot when it lost 98-91 to East Perth on Friday. That shapes as a tough series for the Tigers, who lost by 64 points last time they played the Wolves.
After beating Willetton, East Perth would have guaranteed fifth spot had it beaten the Redbacks, but instead slipped to eighth and now must stop Lakeside, which enters the playoffs on an incredible 16-game winning streak after thrashing Southwest Slammers 121-72.
Defeat ensured the Slammers finished the season winless for the second time in club history and continued a streak which has seen them win just one of their past 64 games.
Cockburn Cougars guaranteed a third place finish and set up a quarter-final match-up with Perth after they defeated Mandurah Magic 112-80. The Magic also lost 99-88 to Perry Lakes.
Elsewhere, Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers finished a disappointing season on a bright note by beating Kalamunda Eastern Suns 101-86 and SKILLED Goldfields Giants squeezed past Rockingham Flames 94-90.
Article by Jacob Kagi
Photo by Mick Cronin
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