THE 2014 men's SBL season got underway over the weekend with Kalamunda and Goldfields racking up two heavy losses, but no team was able to record two victories despite Cockburn, South West, Lakeside and Wanneroo all being tremendously impressive.

The season began on Friday night with the Perth Redbacks beating the Rockingham Flames 96-93, the defending champion Lakeside Lightning defeating the Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles 101-88 and the 2012 champion Cockburn Cougars downing the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 123-84.

Then on Saturday night, the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers thumped the Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants 127-88, the Flames beat the Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers 100-93, the Stirling Senators defeated the Perth Redbacks 102-95 and the Wanneroo Wolves downed the Willetton Tigers 107-88.

The Week 1 action then concluded with three games on Sunday afternoon that saw the East Perth Eagles beat the Goldfields Giants 118-93, the Geraldton Buccaneers defeat the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 123-106 and the Mandurah Magic downed the Perry Lakes Hawks 129-119.

There were some outstanding individual performances over the opening weekend of the season as well starting on Friday night with Redbacks import Stan Okoye impressing with 30 points to go with 13 rebounds and three assists.

Jarrad Prior also scored 21 points for Perth and Joel Wagner 20 while Cooper Land led the way for the Flames with 30 points and 13 rebounds with Tom Remmerswaal adding 25 points.

Jarrad Prue stole the show for Lakeside against East Perth with the all-time leading SBL rebounder finishing the night with 11 points and 31 rebounds. Caleb Palkert and Brad Jackson both scored 23 points for the Lightning as well.

Gavin Field and Damien Scott also put on a show in Cockburn's 39-point win over Kalamunda with both members of the 2012 championship-winning team finishing with 28 points on the night while combining for 31 rebounds between them.

The Slammers opened their season impressively thrashing the Giants and playing-coach Ty Harrelson starred on Saturday night with 31 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals with Clive Weeden adding 30 points and Todd Hendley 20.

The Flames were led by 33 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists by Cooper Land on Saturday in the win over the Buccaneers with Remmerswaal also adding 25 points.

It was a three-man show for the Buccaneers with Bennie Lewis and Aaron Ralph scoring 27 points each, and Carter Cook 25.

Cory Cooperwood led the way for the Senators against the Redbacks on Friday with 31 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists with Josh Throns adding 25 points and nine rebounds.

Okoye backed up his good night on Friday with another standout performance for the Redbacks on Saturday finishing with 28 points and six rebounds.

Wanneroo opened its 2014 season with a win over Willetton with Trian Iliadis leading the way with 23 points and 10 rebounds with Rob Huntington adding 21 points.

John Dickson couldn’t possibly have done any more for Willetton finishing the night with 41 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals on the back of 15-of-25 from the field and 11-of-13 from the foul line.

Then on Sunday, Sunday Dech starred in East Perth's win over Goldfields with 25 points and 11 rebounds with Kyle Armour adding 22 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists as he recorded a triple-double while also shooting 4-of-7 from three-point territory.

Tommy Hannon did all he could for Goldfields finishing with 26 points and 18 rebounds with Durran Blue also adding 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

It was once again a three-man show for the Buccaneers against the Flames and this time they were victorious on Sunday.

Lewis had a huge afternoon for the Buccaneers with 41 points and eight rebounds on the back of shooting 16-of-24 from the field and 7-of-12 from downtown.

Ralph also contributed 19 points and five boards for Geraldton with Cook finishing with 18 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Adhar Mayen led the way for the Suns with 24 points, eight rebounds and seven assists with Louis Timms adding 22 points and 12 boards, and Joel Questel 20 points, five steals and four assists.

Four Mandurah players scored at least 20 points in its win on Sunday over Perry Lakes win with Daniel Thomas leading the way finishing with 38 points, nine assists and five rebounds.

Taylor Mullenax also finished with 34 points and seven rebounds with Paul Hafford adding 22 points and seven boards, Ben Smith 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Trent Gerovich 12 points, four assists and three boards.

Rob Cassir top-scored for Perry Lakes with 28 points, seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocked shots.

Corey Easley also added 27 points, seven assists and six rebounds with Josh Garlepp contributing 23 points and Ben Purser 21 to go with 10 boards and six assists.

FRIDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Perth Redbacks 96 defeated Rockingham Flames 93
Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles 88 lost to Lakeside Lightning 101
Cockburn Cougars 123 defeated Kalamunda Eastern Suns 84

SATURDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 127 defeated Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants 88
Rockingham Flames 100 defeated Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers 93
Stirling Senators 102 defeated Perth Redbacks 95
Willetton Tigers 88 lost to Wanneroo Wolves 107

SUNDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles 118 defeated Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants 93
Kalamunda Eastern Suns 106 lost to Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers 123
Perry Lakes Hawks 119 lost to Mandurah Magic 129

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Sebastian Komatsu (Sebpix)