The People's Choice Eagles spoiled Luke Nevill's homecoming on Saturday night for the Kalamunda Eastern Suns on a big evening of SBL action.

Nevill made his first appearance for the Eastern Suns and had 29 points and nine rebounds, but it wasn’t enough as the Eagles ran out 126-94 winners on the back of 18 points from Tom Jervis, 17 from Drew Williamson, 16 from Austin KIsselev and 14 from Jarrod Balcombe.

The 7'1 giant Nevill has just recently completed his NBL season with the Townsville Crocodiles following spending last season with the Perth Wildcats and the one before that with the Melbourne Tigers before he headed off to Russia.

The WA-product will likely head over to the NBA Summer League once again in the Australian winter so keeping in form and shape in the SBL playing with the Eastern Suns is something he is taking seriously.

Even though he couldn’t lead the so far winless Kalamunda to victory on Saturday night, there's no doubt he will be a force to be reckoned with now until the end of the SBL season.

In other results, the Lakeside Lightning thumped the Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers 121-93. Ben Beran scored 25 points for the Lightning, Justin Cecil 23 and Jesse Dixon 20. Darrel Morgan also had 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

Aaron Ralph top-scored for the Buccaneers with 27 points and seven rebounds. Mark Heron also scored 15 points, Robert Kampmann 13 and Matt Wunderberg 11.

The BOQ Perth Redbacks downed the Rockingham Flames on the back of 33 points from Melbourne Tigers swingman Bennie Lewis. He also had six rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks.

Former Perth Wildcats big man Justin Brown scored 28 points for the Redbacks to go with 16 rebounds and five assists with Joel Wagner adding 15 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds, and Michael Vigor 13 points, 13 boards and three blocks.

Cooper Land hit 34 points for the Flames to go with 16 rebounds and four assists. Trent Gerovich added 16 points, Steven Bennett 13 and Travis Moore 13 and 12 boards.

The Stirling Senators stormed home to beat the Southlands Boulevarde Willetton Tigers 107-103 in a thriller with Josh Throns scoring 28 points and pulling in nine rebounds. Caleb Davis and Jordan Wild both added 25 points each and Ryan Woodbury 15.

Brandon Adams hit 32 points and pulled in 11 boards for the Tigers. Quinn McDowell had 25 points and Kyle Armour 21.

The Mandurah Magic beat the Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants 105-97. Taylor Mullenax scored 35 points and raked in 12 rebounds for the Magic with Taylor Land hitting 19 points, Aaron Trahair 19 and Rhett Della Maddalena 14.

Markhuri Sanders-Frison hit 30 points and pulled in 15 rebounds and dished out six assists for the Giants. Steven Weingarten added 28 points and 12 boards, and Lordan Franich 19 points, six boards and six assists.

The Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers beat the defending champion Cockburn Cougars 85-76 with Jamahr Warren scoring 24 points for South West, Clive Weeden 12, Ty Harrelson 12, Wade Hitchcock 11 and Trent Worthington 10.

For Cockburn, Wildcats development player Damien Scott scored 26 points and pulled in 10 rebounds with Gavin Field scoring 23 points and collecting 17 boards.

And then in the battle of the heavyweights, the Shawn Dennis-coached Perry Lakes Hawks beat the Australian Belt Scrapers Wanneroo Wolves 95-86.

Michael Lay top-scored for Perry Lakes with 30 points with Adrian Majstrovich finishing with 23 points and 19 rebounds. Ben Purser also had 15 points and five rebounds.

Damian Matacz had 29 points and 10 rebounds for the Wolves with Trian Iliadis adding 15 points and Rob Huntington 10.

In women's SBL action, the Kalamunda Eastern Suns beat the Toll Ipec Eagles 72-55. Melissa Moyle scored 14 points for Kalamunda, Chelsea Armstrong 11 and Rachel Muenggenborg 11. Nicole Jorre St Jorre had 14 points for the Eagles and Amy Chinnery 10.

The Rockingham Flames downed the BOQ Perth Redbacks 72-62 with Kaye Tucker outstanding with 28 points. Courtney Hargreaves added 15 points and Samantha Whitcombe 13. Rachel Lisch scored 24 points and had 10 rebounds for the Redbacks with Marita Payne adding 12 points.

The Cockburn Cougars were too good for the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 66-54 with Emma Pass leading the way for Cockburn with 20 points. Stephanie Jones also had 19 points and 10 rebounds. Kimberly Sitzmann had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Slammers.

Wanneroo beat Perry Lakes 73-52 with Shani Amos hitting 18 points and Casey Lockwood 14. Gabriella Clayton had 15 points for the Hawks and Belinda Mayger 13.

Melissa Marsh scored 21 points to lead the Southlands Boulevarde Willetton Tigers to a 78-65 win against the Stirling Senators. Lisa Wallburton and Antonia Edmondson added 18 points each. Amber Land hit 18 points for the Senators with Lyndal Gardner adding 15 points and Taylor Lilley 14.

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Helen Theoharakis (Hoop Shots)