THE Geraldton Buccaneers, Rockingham Flames and Lakeside Lightning all look safe as the top three men's SBL teams but entering Week 16 there is Perth, Mandurah, Joondalup, Stirling, East Perth, South West, Cockburn and maybe even Perry Lakes locked in a battle over the remaining five playoff positions.

Week 16 of men's SBL action begins with three Friday night matches with the Lakeside Lightning playing the Perry Lakes Hawks at Lakeside Recreation Centre, the Raw Nutrition Cockburn Cougars facing the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers at Wally Hagan Stadium and the Stirling Senators battling the Joondalup Wolves at Warwick Leisure Centre.

All three matches tip-off at 8.30pm.

The defending champion Lightning host the Hawks with Lakeside looking to further consolidate third position in the standings and to remain in contention for second spot.

The Lightning currently sits on a 13-7 record having won four of their last five matches to be two games behind the second-placed Rockingham Flames and two games in front of the fourth-placed Perth Redbacks.

The Hawks, on the other hand, are running out of time to put themselves in the mix for a playoff spot. Perry Lakes has lost three of its last five matches to now sit on an 8-11 record in 11th position to three games out of eighth spot coming into Week 16.

The two teams did already play earlier this season back in Week 5 at the WA Basketball Centre with the Hawks winning 111-105 in a terrific contest.

The Cougars and Slammers are two teams knocking on the door of that eighth position as well and both desperately need to record a victory when they do battle on Friday night.

Cockburn lost both games last weekend against Stirling and Kalamunda to slip to 10th position in the standings with a 9-12 record while South West has now also lost three consecutive matches on a 10-10 record.

The loser of the clash on Friday will find it very tough to remain a chance of making the playoffs for 2014 while the winner could very well find themselves inside the eight by the end of Week 16.

The two teams did meet back in Week 13 at Eaton Recreation Centre with the Slammers winning 100-85.

The Senators have found some impressive form of late heading into their clash at home to last year's grand finalists the Wolves.

Stirling has won its last two matches to improve to a 10-9 record on the season to sit in seventh position while Joondalup is in sixth but only percentage ahead of the Senators also with a 10-9 record.

That means that the winner of the Wolves-Senators clash will remain a chance to finish in fourth position while the loser will then be vulnerable to firstly dropping to eighth position, and possibly even outside of the top eight altogether depending on other results.

The Wolves and Senators payed one another already in Week 6 with Stirling winning that contest 103-96.

It is then an incredible night on Saturday of men's SBL action starting at 7.30pm with the bottom-placed Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants taking on the league-leading Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers at Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium.

The other five matches then all tip-off at 8pm with the Perth Redbacks facing the Kalamunda Eastern Suns at Belmont Oasis, the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers taking on the Willetton Tigers at Eaton Recreation Centre and the Joondalup Wolves battling the Lakeside Lightning at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

The Mandurah Magic then also face the Stirling Senators at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre and the Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles take on the Orange Autos Rockingham Flames at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre.

The great mismatch on paper of the weekend opens Saturday night's action with the Giants hosting the Buccaneers in Kalgoorlie, but it could be much closer than a top versus bottom encounter might usually appear.

Goldfields might be on a four-match losing run and have just a 3-17 record on the season, but it's a much more talented line-up than that suggests. However, Geraldton will be desperate to bounce back from an upset loss at the hands of the Willetton Tigers last weekend.

The Buccaneers will be out to bounce back not just to make up for that surprise loss at home, but to also maintain their advantage at the top of the standings with the Rockingham Flames still breathing down their necks.

The two teams did face off in Week 6 in Geraldton with the Buccaneers winning 102-84.

The Redbacks are currently holding down fourth position in the standings but with Mandurah, Joondalup, Stirling, East Perth and South West all either entering the weekend equal on wins or just one behind, they do need to keep on winning.

Perth hosts an Eastern Suns team in second last position in the standings but who is coming off two upset wins last weekend over the Rockingham Flames and Cockburn Cougars. However, centre Luke Nevill was instrumental in both lose results and he won't be there this Saturday night.

The Redbacks won the meeting a fortnight ago with the Eastern Suns 127-98 at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

The Slammers back up taking on the Cougars away on Friday night to then host the Tigers on Saturday.

South West could very well be in the eight depending on how it goes on Friday, or it could need to win on Saturday just to remain in touch of a playoff berth while Willetton comes into the contest out of the finals race with a 7-11 record in 12th position.

South West and Cockburn played back in Week 13 with the Slammers winning that contest 100-85 at Eaton Recreation Centre.

The Wolves and Lightning will have both played matches on Friday night before doing battle on Saturday in a rematch of last year's grand final that Lakeside prevailed in.

This time around, the Lightning will be looking to further cement themselves in third spot while the Wolves are looking to book in that fourth position that so many teams are fighting over.

The Magic will then be fresh to make their only appearance of the weekend hosting a Senators team coming off playing Joondalup at home on Friday night.

Mandurah, like Stirling, is in that battle for fourth position with the Magic entering Week 16 on an 11-9 record having now won three consecutive matches.

The Magic and Senators previously met back in Week 5 with Mandurah winning that battle 107-101 at Warwick Leisure Centre.

The Eagles are currently clinging to eighth position and while they remain a chance still to snatch that fourth position, they are also in real danger of slipping outside of the top eight altogether when they head into Friday's clash with the Flames.

The Flames remain solid in second position in the standings despite last week's loss to Kalamunda while East Perth sits precariously placed in eighth spot heading into the weekend with an 11-10 record.

The teams faced off back I Week 11 in Rockingham with the Eagles scoring the upset 104-101 win on that occasion that they now look to replicate this Saturday night.

WEEK 16 MEN'S SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Lakeside Lightning v Perry Lakes Hawks, Lakeside Recreation Centre 8.30pm
Raw Nutrition Cockburn Cougars v Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers, Wally Hagan Stadium 8.30pm
Stirling Senators v Joondalup Wolves, Warwick Leisure Centre 8.30pm

SATURDAY
Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants v Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers, Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium 7.30pm
Perth Redbacks v Kalamunda Eastern Suns, Belmont Oasis 8pm
Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers v Willetton Tigers, Eaton Recreation Centre 8pm
Joondalup Wolves v Lakeside Lightning, Joondalup Basketball Stadium 8pm
Mandurah Magic v Stirling Senators, Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre 8pm
Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles v Orange Autos Rockingham Flames, Morley Sport and Recreation Centre 8pm

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Deprimo Photography