In the night’s opening game, after snapping a 6 game losing the streak, the Suns have clinched a play-offs spot and have kept alive hopes of clinching fourth spot on the table.

With Captain Ajay Jones watching from the sidelines, the Suns were challenged by the bottom placed Eagles who opened the game well and surprisingly lead at quarter time 18-15. The Suns wrestled back the advantage in the second, with young centre Jessie Edwards leading the way with 9 points and a great team effort on the boards, the Suns up 33-29 at the half. The second half became a slog with neither side shooting the ball well, the Suns outscoring the Eagles 22-19 for the entire half, to run out 55-48 winners. Whilst Craig Mansfield would not have been overly pleased with the way the Suns played, the most important outcome was getting the win and, given it’s a double header weekend, not sustaining any injuries in the process. The scenario is simple, to finish fourth, the Suns must win their home match tonight against the second-bottom Magic, by a considerable margin and require two results to go their way- the Wanneroo Wolves need to defeat the Lightning and the Willetton Tigers must defeat the SouthWest Slammers. The women’s game tips-off tonight at 6:30pm at the Furnace!

Looking at the ladder positions heading into this round, Friday night’s fixture between the 14^th placed Eastern Suns, having only won one road game all season, and the fifth placed East Perth Eagles, looking to climb into the top four, many would have thought it was a foregone conclusion. But for those who have watched and supported the Eastern Suns throughout the season, their 4-20 record heading into the game was not overly summative of their season.

The final result in this game was a 114-108 victory to the East Perth Eagles, but the score alone does not tell the story, of possibly the best game of the 2013 SBL season. The full time score would belie the heroic efforts by numerous players of both teams, it would belie that the game went into overtime and it doesn’t reflect that the Suns were able to build a massive lead on their opponents home court, that the Eagles were able to get back into the game, and then that both teams would trade baskets until well after 50 or so minutes. The game had it all, dunks, defensive hustle, big blocks, youngsters playing and showing skills well above those of their age group, controversial refereeing decisions and big clutch plays. Remember, this was the game between 5^th and 14^th.

The stats alone show how exciting this game was.  For the Suns Luke Nevill had 37 points, 14 rebounds and 8 assists, 2 short of a triple-double. Ben Smith continued his fine season, in which he must be in the top two or three for most improved player, with 33 points and Louis Timms had 13 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocks, though a sixth was controversially called a foul which lead to two soft free throws. For the Eagles, Sunday Dech continued his recent great form with a 10 point 10 rebound game, import Michael Jones had a double-double of his own with 19 points and 15 rebounds, Drew Williamson had 28 points, whilst the statline of the night belonged to centre Tom Jervis who had a big triple-double with 36 points, 21 rebounds and 13 assists. Jervis also had a triple-double in the corresponding fixture last year.

The Suns opened the game looking determined and switched on and quickly were able to open up a lead on the back of some good rebounding and offensive cohesion, taking the Eagles out of what they wanted to do, leading 27-19. The second quarter was much of the same, as the Suns made the Eagles look very average, forcing turnovers by picking off passes and scoring at will, leading by as many as 18, before Jervis scored a late basket to reduce the margin, to close out the half with a big 57-41 lead.

The Eagles came out looking to address some serious holes that had been exploited in their game in the second half, with Drew Williamson stealing and scoring the opening points of the quarter and then knocking down two free throws to narrow the margin to just 12. At this point, it seemed it was inevitable, the Eagles in front of their home crowd would take over, but Ben Smith knocked down 5 consecutive points, Louis Timms got up high to block Jervis and then nailed a basket and the margin was back to 16. A huge 17-2 run to the Eagles reduced the margin to 1, and after Captain Joel Questel nailed a three to extend the margin back to 4, Louis Timms had another massive block and the Suns had steadied. Youngster James Wilson provided some inspiration off the bench, outjumping and out holding three opponents to keep the ball and earn possession for the Suns, and was given a loud applause as he came to the bench late in the third.  Following another great block by Timms with less than 30 seconds in the third, Ben Smith nailed a three and the Suns lead by 8, 76-68 at the final break.

The atmosphere was that of a grand final game, the crowd thoroughly enthralled in the battle and the Eagles opened the last with a quick-fire 5 points, and 12 of the first 16 and eventually, on the back of a Mike Jones 3 pointer tying the scores with seven and a half minutes to play. After Drew Williamson converted on 1 of 2 from the free throw line, the Eagles had hit the front. For the last seven minutes, neither side was able to build a lead bigger than 4 as both sides traded baskets. Luke Nevill knocked down a long jumper with 9 seconds to play and the Suns were able to prevent the Eagles from scoring and overtime beckoned.

After a tough 48 minutes, the Suns who were brave, continued to fight in overtime and it was again the leaders, Smith, Questel and Nevill who provided the points whilst Dayo Oladejo (in his 100^th SBL game) and Louis Timms provided some great hustle. Trailing by 3, Ben Smith hit a massive three pointer and then Joel Questel made, what was to everyone except the referees eyes, a clean steal and had an open court to run in to for a lay-up. The steal was deemed a foul and Joe-Allen Tupaea coolly knocked down 2 free throws before Tom Jervis dunked home to give the Eagles an unassailable lead, winning 114-108.

The game of the season? I’ll leave that to you to decide, it had it all. The Suns proved to everyone that they deserve respect following a brave and tough performance and the future is very bright for the upcoming seasons! The Suns are at home tonight, after the four straight road games, for their final game of the season, against another play-offs bound opponent, the Mandurah Magic. The game tips-off at 8:30pm.

Article by Steve Trajeski

Photo by Serene Maisey