Friday night saw the Southlands Boulevarde Willetton Tigers Men and Women take on the Perry Lakes Hawks in Week 13 of the State Basketball League.

After an up and down weekend in Round 12, a win for the Tigers Men was crucial for their dwindling finals hopes with the majority of teams outside the top 8 in tough competition for the remaining seventh and eighth place.

The Hawks handed the Tigers their first loss of the season on opening night. But with the addition of two class imports since then the Tigers Men had set the stage for a more even matchup.

A solid start from the Captain Clint ‘The Rock’ Read, who posted a 19 point first half, saw the Tigers take a narrow lead early.

Both teams moved to zone defense after the half time break which enabled Tigers three point specialist Wayne Biddle (20 points) to find room to sink a season high 6 from beyond the arc.

Perry Lakes however, who have been renowned for their shooting this season struggled from the field, shooting a miserable 22 percent. Perth Wildcat Tom Garlepp, despite leading the scoring for the Hawks with 22 points, had his worst shooting performance of his season only making 4 of his 22 attempts.

Outshooting the Hawks, the Tigers claimed their seventh victory 93-77 placing themselves in hot finals contention. Read finished just short of triple-double numbers with a sensational 28 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists. Man mountain import Chris Christofferson broke his rebounding record this season with a massive 24 rebounds.

The Tigers Women have reached a down point after being handed their worst defeat in years, going down to the top of the table Perry Lakes Hawks Women 63-106.

The Tigers Women, who just weeks ago stood at 8 and 1, going strong in second place, have now lost their last three and are clinging to a home court advantage for the quarter finals in fourth place.

Perry Lakes’ Deanna Smith, who was fresh from touring Europe with the Australian Opals, single handedly destroyed the Tigers pouring on a phenomenal 38 points in just 23 minutes of play.

Kate Malpass was a lone ranger for the Tigers, carrying almost all of the scoring responsibility with 27 points.
The Tigers Women have battled in recent weeks without their two prized WSBL Players Melissa Marsh and Ashley Gilmore and Week 14 won’t get any easier as they travel to the hills to take on third placed Kalamunda Eastern Suns.

The weeks don’t get any easier for the Tigers Men who face another must win game this Friday night. Last season the Tigers Men downed the Suns in the last round of the regular season to snatch their finals spot and followed  it all the way to the 2008 MSBL Grand Final.

Consistency will be the key,  winning consecutive games only twice this season, while the Suns Men will be looking for revenge through their sharpshooting import Joseph Nixon who is bound to come firing.

Article by Tim Friday
Photo by June Halliday