After shutting down two of the men's State Basketball League's biggest stars over the past month, Total Connections Perry Lakes Hawks forward Ben Purser faces another huge task in Saturday's Grand Final against Wanneroo Wolves.

Purser has played an integral role in shutting down Stirling star Lee Roberts and Lakeside import Ben Beran during the Hawks' march to the Grand Final, which tips off at 7.30pm at the WA Basketball Centre.

The 21-year-old held Roberts to nine and 13 points in Perry Lakes 2-0 quarter-final series win and limited Beran to just 20 and eight points in Perry Lakes' two victories against the Lightning.

But another big challenge is forthcoming in recent Perth Wildcats signing and Wolves captain Greg Hire, who has averaged 21.8 points and 17 rebounds per game this season.

"Purser will play on Hire, there's no real secret about the match-ups. I think it's going to be a great match-up for them to go at it," Hawks coach Dion Dagostino said.

"Purser's relentless. He's energetic, he can run all night and he's just getting smarter and smarter. He's understood and embraced his role as a defender. He just wears guys down.

"In a three-game series, Beran I'm sure was thinking 'I'm going to get sick of this kid running around with me all the time' ... hopefully Ben can have that same effect on Greg on Saturday.

"Last time we played the Wolves, Ben did a pretty good job on Hire and he'd only just got off the flight home from America, so that was an incredible effort.

"Offensively, Ben's becoming a better shooter. All this training he's been doing has been outstanding for him and he's just going to get better and better."

Purser is one of several Hawks players to boast extensive SBL finals experience, which is an area Dagostino hopes his side has over Wanneroo.

The Wolves haven't made the Grand Final since 1993, while the Hawks have made seven of the last 11, which the coach said could be a big factor.

"It's an interesting one because I don't think any of those guys have played in an SBL Grand Final and most of our guys have," Dagostino said.

"I think this is Joe-Alan Tupaea's third or fourth, Jesse Dixon, Purser and most of our guys played when we made it two years ago. Maybe that will give us an edge."

Few pundits tipped the five-time champions to make it this far before the season and Dagostino said it felt good to once again prove people wrong.

"It happened last time we made the Grand Final two years ago as well, when people were tipping us to not even make the top eight but we finished sixth and went from there," he said.

"It'd be nice for people to appreciate during the year that you have a good team, but if it takes all year for them to stand up and listen, then that's fine as well."

Article by Jacob Kagi
Photo by Travis Hayto (Outerbounds Photography)

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