The Southside Mitsubishi Redbacks’ men’s and women’s State Basketball League teams both had strong wins last night against the Cockburn Cougars. The score in the men’s game was 116 to 101 and 74 to 63 in the women’s game.

Redbacks’ star forward Jon Meriweather again turned the heat on his opposition with a dominant game-high 38 points at a field goal percentage of 71, following his 36 point game-high effort at 88% the previous night against the Wanneroo Wolves. To cap off this he also had seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.

In a bizarre twist Meriweather was also asked to use his tremendous leap to hang buckets from the roof to stop the water from coming onto the floor, Jon obliged.

Veteran shooting guard Ryan Neill was the Redbacks’ next highest scorer with 16 points at 54% along with four rebounds. Perth Wildcat Jesse Wagstaff scored 15 points at 56% along with five rebounds.

Point guard Joel Wagner scored 14 points at 50% along with eight assists and two steals while shooting guard Jarrad Prior had 11 points, six rebounds, two steals, two blocked shots and one assist. Rookie Ashley Stephens made a brief but effective cameo appearance for the Redbacks in which he scored eight points in just four minutes of game time.

This result sees the Redbacks’ men’s team move up one further place on the ladder to fifth in the 14-team competition nine wins and six losses.

Last year’s league most valuable player, Brooke Hiddlestone, was the Redbacks’ and the game’s high scorer in the women’s game with 22 points at 56% along with seven rebounds, two steals and two assists. Centre Marita Payne continued with her strong form since joining the League in scoring 16 points along with 10 rebounds, two assists, one steal and one blocked-shot.

Shooting guard Yasmin Lewis scored a season high 11 points along with eight rebounds and two assists while Narelle Henry scored eight points as well as four rebounds, three assists and one steal.

The win sees the Redbacks’ women’s team remain in fifth place in the 12-team competition with eight wins and five losses.

The State Basketball League action continues next Saturday night when the Redbacks will travel down to the Eaton Recreation Centre, 18 Recreation Drive Eaton, to meet the Southwest Slammers with the women’s game starting at 6:00PM and the men’s game at 8:00PM.

PHOTOGRAPH OF REFEREE:

We are unsure what referee Paul Throns was looking at in the shot below in the men's game, but suspect he was trying to work out how high Jon Meriweather got in his last dunk.

REDBACKS’ MEDIA