SOUTH West-Perry Lakes, Mandurah-East Perth, Geraldton-Wanneroo, Perth-South West and East Perth-Willetton are among the crucial Week 18 men's SBL matches coming up this weekend.

The Week 18 men's SBL action begins on Friday night with the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers taking on the Perry Lakes Hawks.

It's then top against bottom when the Lakeside Lightning take on the Kalamunda Eastern Suns with the Mandurah Magic also facing the People's Choice Eagles.

Saturday night's matches then include the third-placed Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers hosting the sixth-placed Australian Belt Scrapers Wanneroo Wolves.

The Perry Lakes Hawks also host the Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants, the BOQ Perth Redbacks take on the South West Slammers, the Rockingham Flames battle the Mandurah Magic, the East Perth Eagles face the Willetton Tigers and the Stirling Senators take on the Cockburn Cougars.

Then finally on Sunday, the Willetton Tigers host the Goldfields Giants.

On Friday night, the South West Slammers look to build on a two-game winning run to remain in eighth position in the standings or potentially move up to as high as fifth over the course of the weekend.

The Hawks remain second at 15-6 but are only just holding out the Geraldton Buccaneers and will now be without Michael Lay who suffered a compound fracture to his thumb last weekend.

The Lakeside Lightning host the Kalamunda Eastern Suns at Lakeside Recreation Centre with the Lightning solid in first spot at 19-3 while the Suns are anchored to the bottom at 3-19.

Lakeside is also unbeaten at home this season at 11-0 while the Suns are winless on the road at 0-10.

The Mandurah Magic lost both games last weekend against Lakeside and Wanneroo, but remain in seventh spot at 12-10 and will look to bounce back against an East Perth Eagles team who also lost last week to Geraldton and have lost four of their last five.

The Eagles remain fifth at 12-10 but positions from fourth right down to 11 are tight so any win or loss at this point of the season could see teams drastically move up or down.

Saturday night's action is then highlighted by the third-placed Geraldton Buccaneers taking on the sixth-placed Wanneroo Wolves at Active West Stadium.

The Buccaneers have won six straight games to hold a 15-7 record to be just a loss behind the second-placed Hawks while the Wolves have now won three straight to improve to a 12-10 record in sixth position in the standings.

The Perry Lakes Hawks back up from playing in Eaton on Friday to host the Goldfields Giants at WA Basketball Centre on Saturday. The Hawks need to keep winning or face the prospect of losing second spot to Geraldton while the Giants have lost ninth straight in 13th position.

The Perth Redbacks shot up to fourth spot on the table last week with a big win over Kalamunda and now take on the South West Slammers at Belmont Oasis on Saturday.

The Slammers are coming off playing Perry Lakes at home on Friday, but with the Redbacks coming into the weekend at 13-9 and the Slammers 11-10, precious little is separating the fourth-placed Redbacks and eighth-placed Slammers.

The Rockingham Flames are in 11th spot with a 9-13 record but could keep its slim finals hopes alive with a win over the seventh-placed Mandurah Magic at Mike Barnett Sports Complex on Saturday.

The East Perth Eagles and Willetton Tigers then meet in another crucial clash on Saturday with the Eagles backing up playing in Mandurah on Friday. The Tigers need to stop a five-game losing run to be a chance of returning to the top-eight.

The Stirling Senators might be out of the finals hunt itself at 8-14 in 12th spot but could ruin defending champions Cockburn Cougars hopes of defending their title.

The Cougars had found some form prior to last week's loss to Rockingham at home so now hold a 9-13 record in 10th spot and can't afford another slip up in the run home.

Sunday's only fixture then pits the Willetton Tigers against the second bottom Goldfields Giants at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Deprimo Photography