Mandurah Magic are now equal third on the men’s State Basketball League ladder after two convincing wins over the weekend.

Friday night saw the Magic host the Total Connections Perry Lakes Hawks and despite holding a 43 point lead at one stage during the third quarter, they were still able to record a dominant 114-85 victory.

The result was a foregone conclusion by halftime as the Magic ran the Hawks off the floor and dominated in all statistics. Mandurah went into the main break with a 70-40 advantage on the back of some outstanding long distance shooting from Aaron Trahair.

With Taylor Land running the fast break to perfection, the Hawks had no answer whatsoever to the Magic’s style of play. Josh Garlepp seemed to be the only Hawk to provide a hint of resistance as he finished the game with a team high 17 points.

Frustration set in for the Hawks as dissention amongst the ranks was apparent, and a needless technical foul was also assessed just before half time.

The sizeable lead Mandurah obtained gave coach Jason Chalk the chance to rest his starters for the fourth quarter, and despite being outscored by the Hawks in the final term, the Magic steamrolled their way to win number fourteen for the season.

Aaron Trahair led all scorers with 25 points including seven three pointers. Taylor Mullenax had 23 points while Taylor Land narrowly missed out once again on a triple double as he finished with 12 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists.

“This was probably the best team game we have played all season,” Trahair said post game.

“The boys really stepped it up and now we have a big game tomorrow night against Lakeside that we can take a lot of confidence into.”

With their confidence sky high, the Magic took advantage of a Lightning team playing without imports Luke Payne and Ben Beran to record a comprehensive 99-74 victory at Lakeside Recreation Centre on Saturday.

The victory also soured Lakeside’s celebrations for Ryan Sofoulis who was recognised after playing his 200th SBL game.

Mandurah’s swarming defence restricted the Lightning to an uncharacteristic 32% from the field which included only 25% from beyond the arc.

Aaron Trahair continued on his merry way connecting on six from eight from three point range, while Taylor Mullenax and Tom Remmerswaal frustrated Lightning big man Jarrad Prue to combine for 49 points.

Darrel Morgan was the leading scorer for Lakeside with 16 points while Prue recorded a familiar 25 rebounds.

Lakeside now sits in second position, two games behind league leading Wanneroo. The Lightning hosts the struggling South West Slammers on Friday night and the Stirling Senators on Saturday night.

Mandurah head to Rockingham on Friday night to face the bottom placed Flames while a tough home fixture looms on Saturday night as they host the red hot East Perth Eagles who are currently on a six game winning streak and sit in fifth position on the ladder.

Article by Nathan Winch
Photo by Darren Speedie (Vision Inspired Photography)