Round three of the Men’s State Basketball League season begins with a trio of big Thursday night games to kick off the Easter long weekend.

League leaders Lakeside (3-0) and title hopefuls East Perth (2-0) visit Willetton (1-1) and Stirling (1-2) respectively and will be looking to keep their unbeaten records alive, while Mandurah (1-2) travel down to Eaton to take on the South West Slammers (1-1).

Geraldton and Goldfields meet at Active West Stadium on Saturday night in an all-country affair, with both sides looking to further solidify their places in the top eight with early-season wins.

The Buccaneers will need Robert Kampman to stand up again after he drained 31 points in the win over Cockburn last week.

Kampman’s scoring power is all the more important following the departure of talented import Jamine Peterson.

Unbeaten Perth Redbacks (2-0) will be out to capitalise on their solid early form when they host Wanneroo Wolves (1-2) on Saturday night.

Winless Rockingham (0-2) take on in-form Perry Lakes (3-0), who will be led into battle by Charles Nix with head coach Shawn Dennis away on Perth Wildcats duties.

Dennis has a large group of assistants to help him this season as he juggles his roles as an assistant with the Wildcats and head coach of the Hawks.

Rockingham leading scorer Cooper Land averaged 34.5 points a game over the opening fortnight of the season and will be looking for more support from his teammates as the Flames look to open their account for 2013.

Reigning champions Cockburn (0-2) have so far struggled to rekindle last year’s form with defeats in their opening two games.

But the Cougars will be confident of racking up their first win of the new season when they host struggling Kalamunda (0-3) at Wally Hagan Stadium on Saturday night.

Article by Shayne Hope
Photo by Mike Cronin