Wolves prevail over brave Hawks (Week 2 Sunday Quarter Final SBL wrap)

THE men's minor premier Joondalup Wolves have advanced to the semi finals of the 2015 SBL playoffs but not without an outstanding effort from the eighth seeded Perry Lakes Hawks.

The Wolfpack deservedly entered the playoffs as the men's championship favourites having finished the regular season three games clear on top of the standings, but the Hawks had an outstanding run late in the season just to make the playoffs and carried that on into the quarter finals.

The two teams met back on Friday night in Week 1 of the playoffs and that was a thrilling, and somewhat controversial, finish with the Wolves winning 86-85 at the buzzer over the Hawks at Bendat Basketball Centre.

Then this Saturday night, Perry Lakes levelled up the series at one-win each with its own thrilling win 94-92 over Joondalup at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

That set up a deciding Game 3 of the quarter-final series at Joondalup Basketball Stadium on Sunday afternoon and it was another tremendous contest, but the Wolfpack were just able to prevail 109-100 to advance to the quarter finals and eliminate the brave Hawks.

That sees the Wolves join the Goldfields Giants, Rockingham Flames and South West Slammers in advancing to the semi finals, while the Hawks join the Geraldton Buccaneers, Cockburn Cougars and Willetton Tigers in being eliminated.

On Sunday afternoon, despite Joondalup opening up a 50-44 lead at half-time, Perry Lakes just refused to lie down and had closed the deficit to just three points heading into the fourth quarter.

Even though the Wolves outscored them 28-22 to end up winning by nine points, the Hawks never gave in and there's every reason for them to expect they could have gone a long way in 2015 if they had got over the Wolfpack.

Captain Seb Salinas ended up top-scoring for the Wolves on Sunday with 22 points, 11 rebounds and five assists while hitting 4-of-8 from three-point territory.

Trian Iliadis added 21 points, seven assists and six boards for the Wolfpack while Kevin Davis contributed 19 points and 12 rebounds, Rob Huntington 18 points and six boards, and Ben Ironmonger 10 points and four assists.

Damian Matacz also finished with nine points, two rebounds and two blocked shots for Joondalup while Louis Timms added nine points and four boards on the back of shooting 4-of-6 from the floor.

Bryton Hobbs was the driving force behind the Hawks making the playoffs putting in outstanding performances when he returned from injury, and again on Sunday he led the way with 31 points, seven assists and five rebounds while shooting 9-of-18 from the field and 11-of-12 from the foul line.

Captain Ben Purser worked hard for Perry Lakes and ended up with 17 points, 15 rebounds, five assists and two steals with Ben Dixon contributing 16 points and seven boards, Josh Garlepp 13 points and Mike Krumel 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots.

SUNDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves 109 defeated Perry Lakes Hawks 100

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Serene-Elise Photography




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