SOUTH West, Lakeside, Wanneroo and Rockingham are the four form teams of the early men's SBL season and now Week 3 action pits the Slammers against the Lightning on Friday, and the Wolves against the Flames on Sunday.

It is a huge weekend of men's SBL fixtures beginning with two games on Friday night that sees the Kalamunda Eastern Suns host the Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles and the Lakeside Lightning do battle with the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers. Both tip-off at 8.30pm.

There are then four games on a massive night of Saturday night action with the Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles playing the Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers, the Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants playing the Stirling Senators, the Perth Redbacks hosting the Mandurah Magic and the Willetton Tigers facing the Perry Lakes Hawks.

The Eagles-Buccaneers and Giants-Senators clashes tip-off at 7.30pm, and the games between the Redbacks and Magic, and Tigers and Hawks at 8pm.

There are then three more men's SBL games on Sunday with the Perry Lakes Hawks facing the Buccaneers at midday, and then at 2pm the Wanneroo Wolves playing the Rockingham Flames and the Mandurah Magic taking on the Cockburn Cougars.

Friday night's first fixture sees the winless Suns take on the 2-1 Eagles at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

Kalamunda has opened the 2014 season with losses to Geraldton, Cockburn and South West while East Perth has been impressive with two wins over the Giants and Senators, but a loss to the defending champion Lightning.

Friday's other match pits two unbeaten teams against one another when the defending champion Lakeside takes on the South West Slammers at Lakeside Recreation Centre.

The Lightning have had plenty of changes since the 2013 title win, but the winning hasn’t stopped with wins so far this year against East Perth and Goldfields, and now this will be their home-opener for 2014.

The Slammers, meanwhile, have won their opening two matches also against Goldfields and Kalamunda.

East Perth then has to back up Friday's clash with Kalamunda with a game at home against the Buccaneers at the Morley Sport and Recreation Centre on Saturday.

The Buccaneers have opened the 2014 season with a win over Kalamunda, but losses to Rockingham and Wanneroo.

The Giants then return home to host the Senators at Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium on Saturday.

Goldfields has lost its first three games to South West, Kalamunda and Lakeside, but will face a big challenge against the Senators.

The Redbacks host the Magic at Belmont Oasis with Perth coming off winning two of their first three games of 2014 while Mandurah is sitting on a 1-1 record.

Willetton then hosts Perry Lakes at the WA Basketball Centre with the Tigers looking to improve to a 2-2 record while the Hawks are out for their first win of 2014 following losses to the Magic and Redbacks.

Sunday's triple-header begins at midday at the WA Basketball Centre with the Hawks backing up their game on Saturday against Mandurah and the Buccaneers staying in Perth after playing the Eagles.

The Wolves then host the Flames at Joondalup Basketball Stadium in their home-opener for 2014 of last year's grand finalists.

Wanneroo has started 2014 with two road wins over Willetton and Geraldton while the Flames are in tremendous form also with three wins from their opening four contests of the new season.

The last game of the weekend then pits the Magic against the Cougars at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre with Mandurah backing up its trip to Belmont on Saturday while Cockburn plays its only game of the weekend on a 1-1 record.

WEEK 3 MEN'S SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Kalamunda Eastern Suns v Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles, Ray Owen Sports Centre 8.30pm
Lakeside Lightning v Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers, Lakeside Recreation Centre 8.30pm

SATURDAY
Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles v Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers, Morley Sport and Recreation Centre 7.30pm
Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants v Stirling Senators, Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium 7.30pm
Perth Redbacks v Mandurah Magic, Belmont Oasis 8pm
Willetton Tigers v Perry Lakes Hawks, Willetton Basketball Stadium 8pm

SUNDAY
Perry Lakes Hawks v Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers, WA Basketball Centre 12pm
Wanneroo Wolves v Rockingham Flames, Joondalup Basketball Stadium 2pm
Mandurah Magic v Cockburn Cougars, Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre 2pm

Article by Chris Pike