Stirling continue Eagles' pain
People’s Choice East Perth Eagles suffered their fourth consecutive loss on Friday night, defeated by the John Hughes Stirling Senators who consolidated their men's State Basketball League top eight position.
The Eagles, who are yet to have a win this season, put up a hard defence but narrowly missed the win with the score at 103-92 points at the final siren.
At the start of the first quarter, the Eagles came out firing and promised a challenging game to the Senators, who were determined to win and keep their game statistics at equal wins and losses.
The pressure of the Eagles’ hard defence and rebounds proved to be too much for the Senators, as they closed out the first quarter four points up at 25-23.
And the pressure did not end in the first quarter, with the Eagles maintaining a higher rebound, assist, block and three point percentage than their opponents throughout the game.
Eagle Corey Easley matched Senators’ top scorer Adhar Mayen at 25 points each, but with two extra rebounds, Easley helped close out the second quarter at 46-44.
But the Senators began their triumph in the third quarter with Aaron Coddington coming in and making 6 points before subbing out after a personal foul.
Even with Tom Jervis’ 17 rebounds, the Eagles could not hold of the Senators and with Michael Jones and Chris Dodd’s rebound to shooter combination, the Senators tied the game for the first time with 74-74 at third quarter time.
The Senators sealed the deal in the fourth with a massive 29 points to Eagles 18.
Jarrod Balcombe’s 18 point game made him a top scorer but still unable to stop Jones from dominating the fourth quarter with eight points and some quick assists and steals.
Although they played a solid game, the Eagles were dominated by their top eight opponents, with the Senators closing the game at 103-92 points.
The women’s game was a different story, with the Toll Ipec Eagles marking up their first win for the season by defeating the Western Stainless Stirling Senators.
The Eagles dominated the game in nearly every aspect, with 100 percent free throw shooting and higher rebound and assist percentages than their opponent.
With Kelsey Maffin, Kate Fielding and Amy Chinnery as top scorers, the Eagles outscored the Senators in the first, second and fourth quarter.
The Senators closed the gap slightly in the third quarter, with top scorers Lauren Jeffers and Lyndal Gardner scoring 15 points between them.
But the Eagles technical skills proved far too difficult for the Senators to overcome and the lead blew out massively in the final quarter.
The overall win went to the Eagles, with a massive 23 point lead over the Senators when the game was totalled at 81-58 at the end of the night.
Article by Courtney Madigan
Photo by Mick Cronin
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