THE East Perth Eagles reminded the rest of the men's SBL competition that it remains a force this season with a two-win weekend over the Mandurah Magic and Willetton Tigers.

Week 18's action started on Friday night with the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers beating the Perry Lakes Hawks 85-84, the Lakeside Lightning thumping the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 105-74 and the People's Choice Eagles downing the Mandurah Magic 101-93.

The Slammers won their third straight match by knocking off the second-placed Hawks by a solitary point in a thriller at Eaton Recreation Centre.

The league-leading Lightning won their fourth straight match to improve to a 20-3 record on the season with a 31-point win over the Suns at Lakeside Recreation Centre.

The win means that Lakeside remains unbeaten after 12 games at home this season while the bottom-placed Suns are also still winless on the road after 11 matches.

The East Perth Eagles then consolidated fifth position with an eight-point win over the seventh-placed Magic on Friday at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre.

The standout performers on Friday night in the men's SBL included Jamahr Warren having 32 points and 13 rebounds for the Slammers. Ben Purser hit 28 points and pulled in 10 rebounds while dishing out five assists for the Hawks with Ryan O'Sullivan finishing with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

Ben Beran again led the way for Lakeside with 29 points, eight rebounds and five steals. Justin Cecil also scored 23 points and Luke Nevill had 27 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for Kalamunda.

Tom Jervis was outstanding for East Perth with 39 points, 14 rebounds, seven blocks and three assists. Joe-Alan Tupaea added 23 points, five boards and five assists with Taylor Mullenax adding 28 points, eight boards and six assists for the Magic.

Then on Saturday night, the Australian Belt Scrapers Wanneroo Wolves beat the Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers 123-102, the Perry Lakes Hawks downed the Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants 86-65, the BOQ Perth Redbacks won over the South West Slammers 112-99, the Mandurah Magic beat the Rockingham Flames 104-87, the East Perth Eagles thumped the Willetton Tigers 130-102 and the Cockburn Cougars prevailed over the Stirling Senators 99-95.

The Buccaneers missed a chance to further close in on second position after Perry Lakes' loss on Friday, but the Wanneroo Wolves had other ideas running 21-point winners at Active West Stadium.

It brought an end the third-placed Geraldton's impressive winning run while also improving Wanneroo to a 13-10 record in sixth position.

The Hawks then bounced back from Friday's loss to remain in second spot at 16-7 with a comfortable 21-point win over the second-last Goldfields at WA Basketball Centre.

The Redbacks consolidated fourth position in the standings with a 13-point win over the Slammers at Belmont Oasis with South West's three-game losing run coming to an end.

The Mandurah Magic rebounded from a loss at home on Friday to East Perth to beat the Rockingham Flames by 17 points at Mike Barnett Sports Complex to see Mandurah improve to a 13-11 record in seventh spot.

The East Perth Eagles made it a two-win weekend as they improved to a 14-10 record in fifth spot thumping the Willetton Tigers by 28 points at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre.

The defending champion Cockburn Cougars returned to the winner's list and remained a chance for finals action with a four-point win over the Stirling Senators at Warwick Leisure Centre.

Saturday's standout individual performers included Trian Iliadis finishing with 29 points for Wanneroo, Rob Huntington 24, Seb Salinas 23, Damian Matacz 18 and Reece Maxwell 13.

Rob Kampman did all he could for Geraldton with 36 points while Carter Cook hit 23 points.

Corey Easley led the way with 26 points and 15 rebounds for the Hawks with Ben Purser finishing with 17 points, 14 boards and five assists. Russell Hurst scored 23 points and had 10 rebounds for Goldfields.

Jarrad Prior led the way for the Redbacks with 30 points. Bennie Lewis added 21, Justin Brown 18, Joel Wagner 16 and Michael Vigor 11. Clive Weeden scored 21 points for the Slammers with Jamahr Warren also hitting 21, Ty Harrelson 19 and Trent Worthington 16.

Taylor Mullenax was on fire for Mandurah with 34 points and 11 rebounds with Cooper Land finishing with 36 points for the Flames.

Tom Jervis hit 30 points to go with nine rebounds and nine blocked shots for the Eagles with Drew Williamson scoring 29 points to go with eight assists.

Joe-Alan Tupaea had a triple-double with 18 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.

Quinn McDowell did all he could for the Tigers with 32 points and 13 rebounds while hitting 4-of-5 from three-point land.

David Reichel hit 29 points for the Cougars with Brian Carlwell adding 21 and 13 rebounds. Cory Cooperwood hit 28 points for the Senators with Sean Gilmore adding 20.

The weekend's action then concluded on Sunday with the Willetton Tigers stopping their losing slide with a 118-91 win over the Goldfields Giants at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

Quinn McDowell had 33 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers with Mitchell Clarke adding 20 points, seven assists and four steals. Russell Hurst had 30 points and 11 boards for the Giants.

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Helen Theoharakis (Hoop Shots)