Hawks, Eagles, Slammers win battles (Men's Wrap)

THE top-eight teams all knew they would play finals heading into the last round of the SBL regular season but positions were up for grabs and sorted during the final weekend with Perry Lakes, East Perth and South West winning their positional battles.

The men's SBL standings for 2013 are set with the regular season coming to a close on the weekend and the Lakeside Lightning (23-3) have finished well clear atop the table.

The Perry Lakes Hawks (18-8) finished second followed by the Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers (18-8), People's Choice Eagles (15-11), Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers (15-11), Australian Belt Scrapers Wanneroo Wolves (15-11), Mandurah Magic (15-11) and BOQ Perth Redbacks (14-12).

The Willetton Tigers (12-14) finished just outside the top-eight followed by the defending champion Cockburn Cougars (10-16), Rockingham Flames (9-17), Stirling Senators (9-17), Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants (5-21) and Kalamunda Eastern Suns (4-22).

The regular season's final round began with just the two matches on Friday night with the East Perth Eagles beating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 114-108 and the Perry Lakes Hawks downing the Perth Redbacks 104-97.

The Eagles finished their regular season with the six-point win over the bottom-placed Suns at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre as they gear up for a finals assault from fourth position.

Perry Lakes then returned to second position in the standings with a come from behind seven-point win over the Perth Redbacks that saw the Redbacks' regular season come to a close and finish in eighth position.

The star individual performers on Friday night included Ben Purser leading the way for the Hawks with 34 points and seven assists. Adrian Majstrovich added 20 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists and Justin Brown did all he could for the Redbacks finishing with 27 points and nine rebounds.

Bennie Lewis added 23 points, nine boards and six assists, and Jarrad Prior 20 points.

Tom Jervis had a big night for the Eagles with 36 points, 21 rebounds and 13 assists with Drew Williamson adding 28 points and seven assists.

Luke Nevill had another 37 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists for the Suns with Ben Smith adding 33 points.

Then on Saturday night, the season came to a close with a big evening of action with six matches taking place.

The Geraldton Buccaneers downed the Rockingham Flames 103-87, the Stirling Senators beat the Goldfields Giants 81-79, the South West Slammers prevailed over the Willetton Tigers 107-96, the Lakeside Lightning won a thriller 98-95 over the Wanneroo Wolves, the Perry Lakes Hawks beat the Cockburn Cougars 111-107 and then the Mandurah Magic downed the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 107-99.

The Geraldton Buccaneers' 16-point win over the Rockingham Flames at Active West Stadium gave them some hope of still finishing second but only with a Perry Lakes loss. However, the Flames season came to an end in 11th position with four straight losses.

The battle of two out of contention teams at Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium saw the Stirling Senators beat the Goldfields Giants by just two points seeing Stirling finish on 9-17 and Goldfields 5-21 having lost their last 13 matches and winning just one at home all season.

The Slammers secured fifth spot in the standings with an 11-point win over the Willetton Tigers at Eaton Recreation Centre seeing the Tigers end their season in ninth position on 12-14.

The top-of-the-table Lakeside Lightning beat the Wanneroo Wolves by three points at Joondalup Basketball Stadium meaning the Lightning take a seven-game winning run into the finals and the Wolfpack will have to make their assault from sixth position.

The Perry Lakes Hawks secured second place in the standings with a four-point win over the Cockburn Cougars at Wally Hagan Stadium ending the season of the defending champions in disappointing fashion in 10th position.

The Mandurah Magic then won their third straight match and secured seventh spot with an eight-point win over the bottom-placed Kalamunda Eastern Suns at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

There were plenty of big individual performances on Saturday night as well including Daniel Thomas finishing with 21 points and nine assists for the Buccaneers with Rob Kampman adding 16 points, 10 boards and four assists.

Rockingham's season ended with Cooper Land finishing with 23 points and 12 rebounds.

Jordan Wild finished with 17 points and 18 rebounds for the Senators and Russell Hurst top-scored for the Giants with 20 points while Dwayne Radcliffe added 19 and Kyle Keirnan 18.

Ty Harrelson was unstoppable for the Slammers with a massive triple-double consisting of 37 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists. Clive Weeden added 21 points and 12 rebounds with Wade Hitchcock also scoring 18 points.

Quinn McDowell did all he could for the Tigers finishing with 33 points and 12 rebounds. Nick Cody also had 24 points.

Ben Beran was again terrific for the Lightning with 35 points and nine rebounds. Trian Iliadis had 34 points for the Wolves with Seb Salinas adding 19 points to go with 11 rebounds and five assists.

Ben Purser capped off his terrific weekend with another 32 points and five assists for the Hawks with Adrian Majstrovich adding 27 points and 15 rebounds. Michael Lay also had 22 points and Corey Easley 16. Alex Prince had 24 points for Cockburn.

Rhett Della Maddalena was terrific for Mandurah with 30 points with Taylor Land adding 28, Taylor Mullenax 20 and Andrew Bowman 13.

Luke Nevill finished his season with the Suns with another 34 points and 16 rebounds.

Article by Chris Pike

Photo by Claire Chappell




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