Wolves, Lightning into decider (Men's SF Wrap)
THE Lakeside Lightning and Wanneroo Wolves both just needed two semi-final matches to qualify for this Saturday night's men's SBL grand final at the WA Basketball Centre.
The Lightning and Wolves needed just the one victory coming into the second weekend of semi-final action for 2013 and both teams took care of business on Friday night to book their places in the grand final to decide the men's champions for 2013.
The Lakeside Lightning dominated the SBL regular season finishing five games clear on top of the standings and now are into the grand final after beating the People's Choice Eagles in just two semi-final matches.
The Australian Belt Scrapers Wanneroo Wolves might have slid down to sixth in the standings at the end of the regular season but beat the third-placed Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers in three quarter-final games before downing the Perry Lakes Hawks in two semi-final clashes.
The Lightning and Wolves will now meet in a mouth-watering men's SBL grand final this Saturday night at the WA Basketball Centre.
The Lakeside Lightning beat the East Perth Eagles in Game 1 at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre 98-88 having to comeback from behind at three quarter-time, but there were no such problems in Game 2 at Lakeside Recreation Centre.
The Lightning took full advantage of an Eagles team without Tom Jervis and Jarrod Balcombe to force East Perth into 11 first quarter turnovers while scoring 29 points to the Eagles' 13.
The Lightning added another 40 points to 22 in the second quarter and 38 to 16 in the third to be leading by a huge 107-51 at three quarter-time, before ending up winning 131-75 to book in a grand final berth.
Wanneroo came into its semi-final match-up with Perry Lakes having won a tough three-game series against the Buccaneers with the Hawks also having a hard time overcoming the Mandurah Magic in three matches.
The Wolves prevailed 107-91 in Game 1 at Joondalup Basketball Stadium before the series headed to the WA Basketball Stadium on Friday night with Wanneroo also winning 104-98 to book in a grand final spot with the added advantage of having just won at the championship decider venue.
Friday night's individual stars started with Justin Cecil scoring 24 points to go with six rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots for the Lightning against the Eagles.
Darrel Morgan also scored 20 points to go with seven rebounds for Lakeside with Ben Beran finishing with 16 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and three steals, Chris Sofoulis 13 points and five assists, and Jarrad Prue six points and 19 rebounds.
Drew Williamson top-scored for East Perth with 19 points with John Taylor adding 13, Nathan Friend 12 and Michael Jones 10 to go with 13 rebounds.
Damian Matacz starred for the Wanneroo Wolves with 30 points to go with 11 rebounds and six assists on the back of 13-of-21 shooting from the field.
Trian Iliadis added 20 points, seven boards, four assists and two steals with Reece Maxwell scoring 17 points, Seb Salinas 13 and Rob Huntington 12.
Adrian Majstrovich did all he could for Perry Lakes finishing with 28 points and 13 rebounds with Ben Purser also scoring 28 points while Michael Lay added 20.
Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Serene Maisey (PandaSnap Photography)
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