Lightning surge clear of pack (Week 10 Men's Wrap)

Lakeside Lightning withstood yet another stern challenge from a rival championship contender to confirm themselves as outright title favourites in round 10 of the Men’s State Basketball League.

Lakeside beat second-placed Perry Lakes 108-96 away from home in a standalone fixture played in front of a big crowd at the WA Basketball Centre on Friday night.

The Lightning dominated the Hawks from the outset and took control with a 33-20 opening quarter and stretched the advantage to 17 points by half-time.

The Hawks fought back in the second half, but couldn’t get close enough to mount a serious challenge.

The win gave Perth Wildcats assistant coach Andy Stewart bragging rights over NBL colleague Shawn Dennis, who is leaving the Wildcats and Perry Lakes to take on the role of head coach with the Townsville Crocodiles next month.

Jarrad Prue and Justin Cecil had big nights out for Lakeside, as did Ben Beran, who scored a game-high 32 points.

Prue’s double-double consisted of 17 points and 22 rebounds, while Cecil has 30 points and 10 boards in a monster display.

Import Michael Lay top-scored for Perry Lakes with 27 points and Corey Easley added 21 points.

But it wasn’t enough for the Hawks, who were lucky to hang onto second spot after East Perth failed to capitalise on the result.

The Eagles suffered a shock 89-85 defeat on Saturday to lowly Goldfields, who are starting to build momentum on the back of three straight wins and could threaten to break into the top eight over the next few weeks.

The Giants dominated the first quarter against East Perth but were outscored in the next two periods, with their lead slashed to two points by three-quarter time.

The home side steadied in the final quarter to win a tight game on the back of 30 points from Jaycen Herring and a massive double-double from Markhuri Sanders-Frison (22 points, 15 rebounds).

There were tight results all around in week 10, with an average margin of less than nine points across the seven games.

Wanneroo came out on top of Mandurah in one of the round’s highest-scoring affairs, winning 115-104 on the road to move into the top four at the Magic’s expense.

Reigning champions Cockburn surprised Perth Redbacks 104-99 to stay within sight of the top eight after a slow start to the year and South West moved to within touching distance of the play-off spots with a 117-109 win over struggling Stirling.

Ty Harrelson sunk 39 points for the Slammers at 50 per cent from the field and went toe-to-toe with Senators top-scorer Jordan Wild, who registered 34 points at 67 per cent to go with his 15 rebounds.

NBA prospect Luke Nevill had 38 points and 15 rebounds for Kalamunda but couldn’t stop the Suns from suffering a 116-106 defeat at the hands of Rockingham.

Article by Shayne Hope
Photo by Sebastian Komatsu




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