THE Joondalup Wolves and Cockburn Cougars look to continue their impressive winning streaks in men's SBL action for Week 14 while the Lakeside Lightning, Perth Redbacks, Goldfields Giants, Stirling Senators, Perry Lakes Hawks and even the East Perth Eagles continue to fight over eighth spot.

There are three men's matches to open the round on Friday night with all three of the contests tipping off at 8.30pm.

The Lakeside Lightning will play the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers at Lakeside Recreation Centre, the Mandurah Magic take on the Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre and the Perry Lakes Hawks face the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves at Bendat Basketball Centre.

There are then five matches on a massive Saturday night of action starting with the two regional fixtures at 7.30pm with the S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers taking on the Perth Redbacks at Active West Stadium, and the Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants playing the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers at Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium at 7.30pm.

Then at 8pm on Saturday night, the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves play the Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames at Joondalup Basketball Stadium, the Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars take on the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers at Wally Hagan Stadium and the
Bethanie Stirling Senators host the Kalamunda Eastern Suns at Warwick Leisure Centre.

And finally on Sunday to close out the round, the Kalamunda Eastern Suns play the Lakeside Lightning at Ray Owen Sports Centre at 2pm.

Starting on Friday night, the Lighting host the Tigers with both teams desperate to win to consolidate their positions in the top eight.

Willetton has now lost three of its last four matches but remain in fifth position with a 10-7 record, but the Tigers do need to start stringing some wins together to avoid losing complete touch with the teams in the top four.

Lakeside, meanwhile, remains in eighth position but only just with a 6-10 record and having now lost four of its last five matches heading into Friday's clash with the Tigers.

The Lightning and Tigers met earlier this season in Week 4 with Willetton on that occasion winning 95-79 at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

The Magic host the Eagles with both teams in different runs of form in recent times that has put the Magic's spot in the top eight in jeopardy, and kept the Eagles' slim finals hopes alive.

Mandurah does remain in seventh position with a 10-7 record despite having lost three of its last four matches including a hefty 29-point loss to the Giants in Kalgoorlie last Saturday night.

East Perth, meanwhile, is finally showing the form expected of the defending champions having now won three straight matches on the back of a 13-game losing streak, but at 4-13 the Eagles do need to keep winning to maintain any hope of still making the playoffs in 2015.

Mandurah and East Perth have already played once this season with the Magic winning 112-98 when the Eagles were in the middle of their losing streak, with that match taking place at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre back in Week 6.

The Hawks and Wolves are two more teams who do battle on Friday night with contrasting form lines coming into the contest.

Perry Lakes has now lost its last three games in the absence of import Bryton Hobbs and is losing touch with the top eight with just a 4-12 record.

Joondalup, meanwhile, is now a game clear on top of the standings having won 10 matches in-a-row to hold an impressive 16-2 record and to be playing some basketball that appears unstoppable at the moment.

Joondalup and Perry Lakes played out a close contest earlier this season in Week 9 and on that occasion the Wolves managed to win 85-79 at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

And then on Saturday night, the Buccaneers host the Redbacks with Geraldton needing to win to maintain touch with the Wolves while Perth must keep winning as well to stay in touch for a playoff berth.

Geraldton's winning run came to an end surprisingly at Cockburn against the Cougars last Sunday with a seven-point defeat and that saw the Buccaneers slip to a 15-3 record and to fall a game behind the league-leading Wolfpack.

Perth remains outside of the top eight coming into the round but following a massive 48-point win over the Eastern Suns last Friday night, the Redbacks can move into the top eight this weekend with a win in Geraldton and if the Lightning lose to the Tigers and Eastern Suns.

The Buccaneers and Redbacks last met earlier this season in Week 2 and in that contest at Curtin Stadium on a Sunday afternoon, it was Geraldton who came away with the 90-73 victory over Perth.

The Giants host the Slammers in Kalgoorlie with Goldfields needing to win to keep its playoff hopes alive while south West also needs a victory to consolidate third position and stay in contention for a top two spot.

The Giants have lost two of their last three games, but bounced back with a 29-point win last Saturday night over the Magic to improve to a 6-11 record and remain in touch with the eighth placed Lightning.

The Slammers, meanwhile, have now slipped to third position having lost three of their last four matches to see them now sit three games behind the league-leading Wolves and two behind the second-place Buccaneers.

The Slammers and Giants played one another earlier this season in Week 4 at Eaton Recreation Centre and South West came away with a comfortable 107-74 win at home over Goldfields.

The Wolves then back up their clash on Friday night against the Hawks by hosting the Flames on Saturday.

Joondalup is looking to maintain its spot on the top of the table while Rockingham is now back in some impressive form as well having now won four of its last five matches to improve to a 10-7 record in sixth position.

The Wolfpack and Flames earlier met this season in Week 9 at Mike Barnett Sports Complex and in that contest Joondalup scored a comprehensive 106-76 victory over Rockingham.

Along with the Wolves, the Cougars are the form team of the men's SBL at present coming into their clash at home with the Tigers also on Saturday night.

Willetton will be coming having played the Lightning on Friday night with Cockburn will be fresh and enters the contest on a seven-game winning streak and on a 12-6 record in fourth position coming off a terrific win last Sunday at home to the Buccaneers.

The Cougars and Tigers met early in the season in Week 3 and on that Friday night at Willetton Basketball Stadium, it was a thriller with Willetton coming away with a 104-102 nail-biting victory over Cockburn at home.

The final match on Saturday night then sees the two teams in the biggest form slumps at the moment do battle with the Senators hosting the Suns.

Stirling has now lost seven straight matches to be in 11th position with a 5-11 record while Kalamunda has lost six in-a-row as well and is in last spot at 2-15 as the two teams gear up to meet one another for the first time in 2015.

And finally on Sunday, the Suns host the Lightning with Kalamunda coming off playing the Senators on Saturday night with Lakeside having played the Tigers on Friday.

The Suns and Lightning have already played once this season with Lakeside winning that battle 130-107 at Lakeside Recreation Centre back in Week 8.

WEEK 14 MEN'S SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Lakeside Lightning v Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers, Lakeside Recreation Centre 8.30pm
Mandurah Magic v Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles, Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre 8.30pm
Perry Lakes Hawks v Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves, Bendat Basketball Centre 8.30pm

SATURDAY
S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers v Perth Redbacks, Active West Stadium 7.30pm
Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants v Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers, Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium 7.30pm
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves v Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames, Joondalup Basketball Stadium 8pm
Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars v Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers, Wally Hagan Stadium 8pm
Bethanie Stirling Senators v Kalamunda Eastern Suns, Warwick Leisure Centre 8pm

SUNDAY
Kalamunda Eastern Suns v Lakeside Lightning, Ray Owen Sports Centre 2pm

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Serene-Elise Photography