Wolves, Lightning win semi openers (Men's SF Wrap)

WANNEROO and Lakeside both recorded first-up victories in their men's SBL semi-final series' against Perry Lakes and East Perth on Saturday night.

The Australian Belt Scrapers Wanneroo Wolves put in a massive final period to beat the Perry Lakes Hawks 107-91 at Joondalup Basketball Stadium while the Lakeside Lightning downed the People's Choice Eagles 98-88 at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre also thanks to a strong finish.

The semi-final opening weekend results mean that the Wolves now hold a one-nil lead over the No. 2 seeded Hawks with Wanneroo within one game of making a grand final after finishing the regular season in sixth position while the minor premier Lightning are on top of the East Perth Eagles.

Wanneroo might have ended up finishing sixth at the end of the regular season, but upset the Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers two-nil in the quarter finals to set up a meeting with the Hawks who finished second and overcame the Mandurah Magic in three games.

It was a tight contest for the first three quarters at Joondalup Basketball Stadium, but then the Wolves caught fire in the fourth period outscoring Perry Lakes 35 to 19 to end up winning by 16 points.

The result means that the Wolves need to win just one of the two games this weekend against the Hawks at the WA Basketball Centre starting on Friday with a potential Game 3 on Saturday if Perry Lakes is able to prevail in Game 2.

Lakeside finished the regular season five games clear on top of the men's SBL standings and then cruised past the BOQ Perth Redbacks in two quarter-final matches but East Perth dominated their own series against the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers.

However, the Lightning dominated the final period on Saturday night at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre outscoring the Eagles 32 to 20 to end up winning by 10 points after a tight battle most of the evening.

The series will now switch to Lakeside Recreation Centre with Game 2 to be played on Friday and then a deciding Game 3 also at the same venue if East Perth is able to win on Friday.

In terms of individual performances on Saturday night, Trian Iliadis starred for Wanneroo with 25 points, five assists and three rebounds with Seb Salinas adding 20 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, Rob Huntington 19 points and 11 boards and Damian Matacz 18 points and seven rebounds.

Corey Easley top-scored for Perry Lakes with 28 points and six rebounds with Adrian Majstrovich scoring 20 points, Ben Purser 18 and Michael Lay 14.

Ben Beran starred for the Lightning with 27 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and four steals with Darrel Morgan scoring 20 points and Justin Cecil 16 to go with 11 rebounds. Jarrad Prue also was outstanding with five rebounds, 24 rebounds, four steals and two assists.

Michael Jones top-scored for the Eagles with 27 points while Drew Williamson scored 18 points, Joe Alan Tupaea 17 and Tom Jervis 14 to go with 10 rebounds.

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Grant Lauterbach (www.grantlauterbach.com)




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