THE Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars continued their stunning men's SBL form with an upset seven-point win over the S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon to conclude Week 13 action.

The Cougars recorded their seventh straight victory by beating the Buccaneers 105-98 at Wally Hagan Stadium on Sunday afternoon in the only SBL match fixtured for the day.

Cockburn was coming off having beaten the Lakeside Lightning 98-87 also on their home floor on Friday night and now the seven-point win over the Buccaneers sees them consolidate fourth position in the standings with an 11-7 record.

Geraldton, meanwhile, maintains second position at 15-3 but falls behind the league-leading Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves who are now out on top on 16-2.

And it took a stunning fourth quarter comeback for the Cougars to come away with the victory as well.

The Buccs had beaten the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 109-94 at Ray Owen Sports Centre on Saturday night, and backed that up with a strong start against the Cougars with a 31-point first quarter.

The Buccaneers backed that up with a solid second period to lead 58-47 at half-time and the visitors maintained an eight-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, but that's when the Cougars caught fire.

Cockburn piled on 35 points to 20 in the last quarter to go from trailing by eight points to end up winning by seven in style.

Gavin Field ended up being the star of the victory for the Cougars finishing the afternoon with 32 points, 10 rebounds and four assists on the back of shooting 9-of-21 from the field, 6-of-12 from beyond the arc and 8-of-9 from the free-throw line.

Najee Lane also put in a strong performance for Cockburn with 22 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals while Eric Milam contributed 19 points and four boards hitting 8-of-14 from the field.

Steven Van Lit also added 11 points for the Cougars with Sheldon McIntyre finishing with seven points, 12 boards, five assists and three steals.

Bennie Lewis again did all he could for the Buccaneers top-scoring with 32 points to go with three rebounds and two assists with him shooting 10-of-22 from the floor, and 5-of-9 from three-point territory.

Carter Cook contributed 31 points and 10 boards as well for the Buccs while hitting 12-of-21 from the field with Aaron Ralph adding 16 points, nine rebounds and three steals, Daniel Thomas 12 points and Mat Wundenberg seven points to go with 12 rebounds, three rebounds.

However, of concern for the Buccaneers was the lack of production of the bench with the absence of Cory Cooperwood. The Buccs didn’t score a solitary point between their four players who hit the floor off the bench with them just combining for three points, two assists, one steal and two blocks.

Meanwhile, Cockburn's bench combined for 24 points, 10 rebounds, six assists, three steals and a block.

SUNDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars 105 defeated S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers 98

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Mick Cronin