Mandurah Magic will make their first men’s state basketball league finals appearance since 1999 when game one of the men’s quarter finals series tips off this weekend.

The Magic will be looking for big games from the their dominant forward duo of Taylor Mullenax (24 points, ten rebounds per game) and Tom Remmerswaal (23 points, 9 rebounds per game).

Their opponents, the East Perth Eagles, have their own dominant big man in Tom Jervis (21 points, 13 rebounds per game) along with sharp-shooter Drew Williamson (18 points per game) and athletic swingman Jarrod Balcombe (19 points per game).

East Perth will be confident going into the series, having picked up both wins against the Magic this year, 113-64 in week ten and 114-100 in week 18, however game one will be in-front of the Magic home fans.

The seventh place Goldfields Giants return to the playoffs after being a shock omission in 2011, they play the second place Lakeside Lightning in a Goldfields home game on Saturday night

Goldfields will have their hands full defensively with Lakeside having some of the biggest scorers behind them in Luke Payne (21 points per game), Ben Beran (20 points per game) and Jarrad Prue (11 points, 20 rebounds per game).

For the second time in two seasons the Cockburn Cougars (third) and Perth Redbacks (sixth) will meet in the quarter finals, with the Cougars again having home court advantage in the best-of-three series.

The Redbacks have suffered recently with injuries to big men Michael Vigor and Adrian Majstrovich and will have to be at their best if they are to hold off the Cougars Brian Carlwell and Jeremiah Wilson.

Carlwell has been a physical presence for the Cougars this season, averaging 21 points and 12 rebounds per game, while Wilson has been causing opposition teams headaches with the athletic forward averaging 24 points and 12 rebounds per game.

Kalamunda Eastern Suns just scraped into the finals on head-to-head results, their second finals appearance in their short five year history will see them tackle the minor premiers Wanneroo Wolves.

The Eastern Suns have had an impressive second half of the year with the addition of athletic import Lee Roberts seeing the team finish with a 10-5 record since round ten.

The defending champions will not be worried with game one being on the road, having only dropped one game away from home all season, to Cockburn Cougars in the last round of the regular season.

The Kickz101 Men’s State Basketball League Grand Final is on Saturday 1 September at the WA Basketball Centre, tickets go on sale through Ticketmaster at 9:00am Monday 6 August.

Article by Hannah Coleman
Photo by Serene Maisey (PandaSnap Photography)