Coach Andy Stewart says star import Ben Beran's 52-point performance in Lakeside Lightning's comfortable victory over East Perth in game one of their MSBL quarter-finals series was "phenomenal".

Beran was at his dominant best as the Lightning beat the Eagles 110-91 at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre in the opening game of their best-of-three first round match-up.

The 26-year-old forward remarkably had 22 points by quarter-time before finishing with 52 points at 19 of 34 shooting from the field and seven of 13 from three-point range, while also adding seven rebounds and five blocks.

"It was just beautiful," Stewart said of Beran's performance.

"When you look at it, Luke Payne didn't have a great one but we didn't miss a beat because Beran was just amazing.

"He really stepped up for us tonight, he was simply phenomenal."

But the Iowa native refused to take all the credit for Lakeside's victory, which gives it the chance to wrap up the series when it hosts game two next Friday.

"Honestly, it was a team effort ... You make a couple of shots and everything opens up. Sometimes you've just got it and I'm thankful tonight was a good night for me," Beran said.

"We've been working hard over the past month to get back into it because we'd been struggling a little bit, so I'm just happy that we're being rewarded for all our efforts."

Outside of Beran's performance, it was a quiet night for many of Lakeside's usual stars. Payne scored just 16 points, which was his lowest total since late March, while Brad Jackson only scored one point.

While Stewart said he was happy with the way his side covered their lack of scoring, he said there was plenty they needed to work on ahead of game two.

"We saw a heap of stuff there that we know they're going to target now and we've got to do a better job with a few things next weekend," he said.

"It was tough. They are a form team and they're playing okay basketball so that was a good, tough struggle for us."

Despite facing the huge challenge of having to win twice at Lakeside Recreation Centre - where no team has beaten the Lightning this season - next weekend, Eagles coach Matt Parsons refused to give up hope.

"This series isn't over, it's still up for grabs," he said. "I'll still back our boys to score over 100 points in most games but we've just got to make a few tweaks on defence.

"They came to play tonight and we got outgunned. We let a few simple things get in our way and we've got to go back to the drawing board.

"We know the areas we need to improve on and we've got to work harder on the track."

Article by Jacob Kagi at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre
Photo by Grant Lauterbach

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