THE Joondalup Wolves, Perry Lakes Hawks and Cockburn Cougars all suffered their first losses of the Men's SBL season in Week 3 while the East Perth Eagles broke their duck to get on the board.

The evenness of the 2016 Men's competition was fully on show across the Week 3 action with the defending champion Wolfpack and fellow unbeaten teams the Hawks and Cougars losing, while there remains just the one team yet to win and that's the Kalamunda Eastern Suns.

Week 3 got underway with three matches on Friday night with the Perth Redbacks beating the South West Slammers 111-106, the Lakeside Lightning downing the Perry Lakes Hawks 98-91 and the Stirling Senators defeating the Cockburn Cougars 102-100.

Saturday night began with the Geraldton Buccaneers handing the Joondalup Wolves their first loss of the year 101-96 and the Goldfields Giants storming home to beat the Willetton Tigers 100-99.

Also on Saturday, the Stirling Senators scored a second win in 24 hours beating the Mandurah Magic 101-92 with the East Perth Eagles getting its first win downing the winless Kalamunda Eastern Suns 115-102 and the Cockburn Cougars bounced back to beat the Rockingham Flames 98-84.

And finally on Sunday at Ray Owen Recreation Centre, the Flames bounced back from losing the previous night to defeat the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 129-117.

Following Week 3, the Cockburn Cougars (3-1) sit atop the standings ahead of the Geraldton Buccaneers (3-1), Goldfields Giants (3-1), Joondalup Wolves (2-1) and Perry Lakes Hawks (2-1).

The Rockingham Flames (3-2), Willetton Tigers (2-2) and Stirling Senators (2-2) round out the top eight ahead of the Perth Redbacks (2-2), Lakeside Lightning (2-2), Mandurah Magic (1-2), South West Slammers (1-2), East Perth Eagles (1-3) and Kalamunda Eastern Suns (0-5).

The Week 3 Men's Team of the Week is made up of Tre Nichols (South West Slammers), Kenny Manigault (Goldfields Giants), Trevor Setty (Mandurah Magic), Rhys Vague (East Perth Eagles) and Daniel Alexander (Lakeside Lightning).

Nichols is named in the Team of Week for the second straight round after delivering 28 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists and two steals for the Slammers on Friday night. However, his triple-double wasn’t quite enough to get them over the Redbacks.

Manigault continued the outstanding start to his SBL career with the Giants named again to the Team of the Week after 38 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, four steals and three blocks in Saturday's win over the Tigers.

The Magic came up short against the Senators at Warwick Stadium on Saturday but Setty did all he could to change that with 41 points, 18 rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Vague helped deliver the Eagles their first win of 2016 on Saturday night with 33 points, 16 rebounds, six assists, three blocked shots and two steals while not missing a shot. He nailed 9-of-9 from the floor, 4-of-4 from long range and 11-of-11 from the charity stripe.

Alexander showed that he has had no trouble instantly settling into the SBL with a standout performance for the Lightning in the win over the Hawks on Friday. He finished with 39 points, 12 rebounds and two blocked shots shooting 13-of-19 and nailing both his three-point attempts.

There were plenty more notable performers across the weekend too starting on Friday with Jack Wagner delivering 29 points and five rebounds for the Redbacks against the Slammers.

Reed McConnell added 18 points, nine rebounds and four assists for Perth, Jourdan DeMuynck 18 points, 13 boards and five assists, Joel Wagner 14 points and five assists, and Tyler Viskovich 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Royal Crouch gave Nichols plenty of support for the Slammers with 30 points and 13 rebounds while Corey Easley contributed 16 points and eight boards, Trent Worthington 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Wade Hitchcock 12 points.

The Senators delivered a stunning fourth quarter to come back to beat the Cougars on Friday at Wally Hagan Stadium with Cody Ellis delivering 34 points, seven rebounds and three assists for Stirling shooting 13-of-18 from the floor.

Kyle Lindbergh added 18 points and 12 boards for the Senators, AJ Majstrovich 14 points and nine rebounds, and Austin Bruton 14 points.

Then on Saturday night with Stirling beating Mandurah, Ellis had 23 points and eight rebounds, Bruton 19 points and four assists, Jayden Coburn 13 points and Lindbergh 12 points and seven assists.

Marcus Goode finished with 29 points and 19 rebounds for Cockburn on Friday, Najee Lane 29 points, 12 boards, four assists and three steals, Julian Pesava 18 points and six rebounds, and Gavin Field 13 points, four boards and four dimes.

Then on Saturday in the win over the Flames, Field top-scored with 28 points and eight rebounds for the Cougars while Lane contributed 19 points and seven boards, and Goode 16 points and eight rebounds.

Also on Friday, TJ Hallice offered Alexander plenty of support in the Lightning's win with 20 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists. Hayden Bell also had 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists, and Seva Chan nine points, six rebounds and five assists.

Bryton Hobbs top-scored for the Hawks with 28 points, seven steals, five assists and four rebounds with Brian Carlwell contributing 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Ben Purser 16 points, six boards and five assists.

Saturday night saw the Buccs hand the defending champion Wolves their first loss of 2016 with Carter Cook top-scoring with 28 points and six rebounds.

Matthew Adekponya added 26 points, 14 boards and six assists, Maurice Barrow 21 points and seven rebounds, and Aaron Ralph 13 points and eight boards.

Kevin Davis top-scored for the Wolfpack with 23 points and 16 rebounds while Rob Huntington had 19 points and six boards, Seb Salinas 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and Trian Iliadis 13 points.

Not only did Manigault star for the Giants, but Jacob Holmen delivered 18 points and 16 rebounds, and Daniel Goodluck 11 points, four boards and three assists.

Jay Bowie top-scored for the Tigers in his first game against his old club with 29 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. Kyle Armour added 23 points for Willetton, Damien Scott 19 and Nic Cody 10.

As well as Setty's 41 points against the Senators, Taylor Mullenax had 20 points and 12 rebounds for Mandurah and Ben Smith 16 points and eight boards.

The Flames went down to the Cougars at Mike Barnett Sports Complex on Saturday with Cooper Land scoring 21 points and six rebounds, Ryan Godfrey 14 points, Chudier Pal 13 points and seven boards, and Jarryd Griffin 12 points and nine rebounds.

Rockingham hit back to beat Kalamunda on Sunday with 31 points to Godfrey and 36 to Pal to go with 22 rebounds in the absence of Land.

Griffin added 21 points, 16 rebounds and six assists for the Flames and Matthew Honey 14 points.

East Perth got its first win of 2016 coming from behind to beat Kalamunda on Saturday night with not only Vague putting up big numbers, but Thomas Korf delivering 39 points and five boards shooting 13-of-25 from the floor and 6-of-13 from beyond the arc.

Italian import Jacopo Marsili top-scored for the Eastern Suns with 15 points and seven rebounds off the bench with Travis McIlroy adding 13 points, Billy Grey 11 and Jarrad Prior 10.

Then on Sunday against the Flames, Marsili started and put up 24 points while Brandon McGill contributed 13 points and nine assists, Geordie Murray 12 points, Tim Squire 11, Kerrod Horn 11 and Ryan Blanchett 11.

WEEK 3 MEN'S TEAM OF THE WEEK
Tre Nichols (South West Slammers)
Kenny Manigault (Goldfields Giants)
Trevor Setty (Mandurah Magic)
Rhys Vague (East Perth Eagles)
Daniel Alexander (Lakeside Lightning)

FRIDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Perth Redbacks 111 defeated South West Slammers 106
Lakeside Lightning 98 defeated Perry Lakes Hawks 91
Cockburn Cougars 100 lost to Stirling Senators 102

SATURDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Geraldton Buccaneers 101 defeated Joondalup Wolves 96
Goldfields Giants 100 defeated Willetton Tigers 99
Stirling Senators 101 defeated Mandurah Magic 92
East Perth Eagles 115 defeated Kalamunda Eastern Suns 102
Rockingham Flames 84 lost to Cockburn Cougars 98

SUNDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Kalamunda Eastern Suns 117 lost to Rockingham Flames 129

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Deprimo Photography