THE two hottest teams in the men's SBL do battle on Saturday night when the Geraldton Buccaneers host the Willetton Tigers but that is just one of 10 fascinating contests across Week 6 of the 2015 competition.

The S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers won last year's SBL minor premiership before coming up just short to the East Perth Eagles in the grand final, but they now again sit on top of the standings heading into Round 6 having won seven straight matches and last week handing the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves their first defeat.

Now they host the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers in what should be a terrific battle on Saturday night as part of a weekend that includes three matches on Friday night, six on Saturday and then one to finish up with on Sunday afternoon.

The weekend's men's SBL action begins with three matches on Friday night all tipping off at 8.30pm with the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers playing the Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames at Eaton Recreation Centre, the Joondalup Wolves taking on the Perth Redbacks at Joondalup Basketball Stadium and the Lakeside Lightning battling the Perry Lakes Hawks at Lakeside Recreation Centre.

It is then a jam packed schedule with six matches on Saturday night starting at 7.30pm with the Geraldton Buccaneers hosting the Willetton Tigers at Active West Stadium and the Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants playing the Bethanie Stirling Senators at Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium.

Then at 8pm, the Rockingham Flames play the Kalamunda Eastern Suns at Mike Barnett Sports Complex, the Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles face the Mandurah Magic at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre, the Perry Lakes Hawks take on the South West Slammers at the WA Basketball Centre and the Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars battle the Joondalup Wolves at Wally Hagan Stadium.

The round then concludes on Sunday afternoon with the Mandurah Magic playing the Cockburn Cougars at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre with tip-off set for 2pm.

Starting on Friday night, the Slammers host the Flames with the home team looking to bounce back from suffering their first loss of the season last week at the hands of the Wolves. Before that, the Slammers had won their opening seven matches in style and still sit on a 7-1 record.

The Flames also started their season impressively winning their first four matches over the Eagles, Giants, Redbacks and Cougars before suffering three straight losses to the Hawks, Buccaneers and Lightning since.

They now face the tough ask of beating the Slammers on their home floor on Friday night to avoid slipping to a 4-4 record.

The Wolves also host the Redbacks on Friday with Joondalup having lost its first game of the season last Sunday against the Buccs after winning their first five matches of 2015.

Perth, meanwhile, has won two straight matches over the Giants and Eagles to begin building some momentum with a 3-4 record and with imports Ray Turner and Marshall Brown finding their feet and putting in some exciting performances.

Finally on Friday, the Lightning host the Hawks with both teams looking to start building some momentum to press up into the top eight.

Lakeside ended a five-game losing run last Sunday with a seven-point win over the Flames to improve to a 2-5 record while the Hawks sit on 2-4 after a rollercoaster season so far.

Then on Saturday night, it all begins with the 7-1 top-of-the-table Buccaneers hosting the 5-1 third-placed Tigers.

Geraldton has now won seven straight matches since losing its opening game of the season to the Slammers while Willetton is on a four-game winning streak since suffering a disappointing 23-point loss to the Wolves.

They have since beaten the Eagles, Cougars, Lightning and East Perth again leading into their clash with the Buccs.

The Giants might have been competitive in most of their six matches so far this season but they are still yet to record a victory heading into their clash at home with the Senators on Saturday night.

Stirling won its opening game of the season against the Redbacks, then lost its next four against the Cougars, Magic, Slammers and Wolves before bouncing back with a 10-point win over the Hawks last week.

The Flames then back up their clash with the Slammers on Friday by hosting the Eastern Suns on Saturday night with Kalamunda coming into the fixture on a 1-5 record having lost its last four matches.

The Eagles and Magic will make their first appearances of the weekend at Morley on Saturday night with the defending champion East Perth desperate to end its losing run and Mandurah also looking to avoid slipping to a 4-4 record.

The Eagles opened their championship defence with a win over the Hawks but have since lost to the Flames, Slammers, Tigers, Cougars, Redbacks and Tigers to be struggling at 1-6 coming into the clash with the dangerous Magic.

Mandurah currently holds a 4-3 record but has gone win-loss throughout the season so far and now will be looking to make it two wins on the trot following last Friday's thrilling one-point win over the Lightning.

The Hawks also host the Slammers on Saturday night Perry Lakes coming off playing Lakeside on Friday while South West will be backing up hosting Rockingham on Friday as well.

The final match of Saturday night then sees the Cougars host the Wolves with Cockburn looking to continue its impressive start to the season and building on a 4-3 record up against a Joondalup City team that would have taken on the Redbacks at home on Friday.

The round then concludes on Sunday afternoon with the Cougars backing up their clash with the Wolves hitting the road to face the Magic who also played the Eagles on Saturday night.

WEEK 6 MEN'S SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers v Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames, Eaton Recreation Centre 8.30pm
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves v Perth Redbacks, Joondalup Basketball Stadium 8.30pm
Lakeside Lightning v Perry Lakes Hawks, Lakeside Recreation Centre 8.30pm

SATURDAY
S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers v Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers, Active West Stadium 7.30pm
Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants v Bethanie Stirling Senators, Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium 7.30pm
Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames v Kalamunda Eastern Suns, Mike Barnett Sports Complex 8pm
Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles v Mandurah Magic, Morley Sport and Recreation Centre 8pm
Perry Lakes Hawks v Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers, WA Basketball Centre 8pm
Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars v Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves, Wally Hagan Stadium 8pm

SUNDAY
Mandurah Magic v Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars, Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre 2pm

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Mick Cronin