THE South West Slammers have now handed the Geraldton Buccaneers both their men's SBL losses in 2015 with the Slammers now moving two games clear on top of the standings as a result.

The Slammers opened the season with a win over the Buccs at home and then scored an impressive win in Geraldton in a terrific contest again on Saturday night.

Meanwhile, the Joondalup City Wolves won twice on the weekend to move up into second position while the Goldfields Giants scored a third successive win as well as part of the action.

The two men's match ups on Friday night saw the Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars defeat the Bethanie Stirling Senators 107-102 at Wally Hagan Stadium and the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves beat the Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames 106-76 at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

There were then six massive men's contests on Saturday night starting with the Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants beating the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 105-89 at Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium and the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers defeating the S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers 122-117 at Active West Stadium.

The Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars also beat the Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles 91-84 at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre, the Mandurah Magic downed the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 106-92 at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre, the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves defeated the Perry Lakes Hawks 85-79 at Joondalup Basketball Stadium and the Lakeside Lightning prevailed over the Perth Redbacks 90-80 at Curtin Stadium.

The Friday and Saturday night results leave the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers (12-1) two wins clear on top ahead of the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves (10-2) with the S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers (10-2) slipping to third position.

The Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers (8-4) are in fourth spot ahead of the Mandurah Magic (8-4), Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars (7-6), Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames (6-6) and Lakeside Lightning (5-5).

Outside the top eight are the Bethanie Stirling Senators (5-6), Perth Redbacks (4-8), Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants (3-8), Perry Lakes Hawks (2-9), Kalamunda Eastern Suns (2-10) and Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles (1-11).

There were again some outstanding individual performances across the two nights of men's SBL action starting on Friday with Gavin Field having a massive game for the Cougars with 39 points to go with 13 rebounds and five assists on the back of shooting 15-of-26 from the field and 8-of-14 from downtown.

Eric Milam added 23 points and eight boards as well for Cockburn with Najee Lane finishing with 19 points, 11 rebounds and four assists, and Grant Davey 10 points and four assists.

Jordan Wild top-scored for the Senators with 22 points, 13 rebounds and five assists with Kyle Lindbergh contributing 17 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, six blocked shots and two steals.

Austin Bruton also had 17 points for Stirling, Jayden Coburn 15 and Ryan Woodbury 14.

Wolves captain Seb Salinas led the way for the Wolfpack with 25 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals while shooting 11-of-17 from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point territory.

Kevin Davis added 19 points and eight boards for the Wolves with Rob Huntington contributing 17 points and six rebounds, Trian Iliadis 17 points, four boards and three assists, and Joel Questel nine points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Cooper Land top-scored for the Flames with 16 points and seven rebounds with Ryan Godfrey adding 13 points, Andrew Bowman 12 and Taylor Land 10 to go with five boards, four assists and three steals.

Then on Saturday night, it saw Jay Bowie top-scoring for the Giants with 24 points and eight rebounds with Jacob Holmen adding 20 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and three blocked shots.

Russell Hurst scored 15 points to go with six rebounds and four blocked shots also for Goldfields while Edin Zunic contributed 14 points and 12 boards, Brandon Hewitt-Holloway 12 points and five assists, and Mathiang Muo 11 points and nine rebounds.

Lien Phillip top-scored for the Eastern Suns with 24 points, 18 rebounds, four assists and three steals with Kevin Anthony contributing 22 points, six boards and two assists. Jaarod Holmes also finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds for Kalamunda, and Seva Chan 16 points and seven assists.

Tre Nicholls had a tremendous game for the Slammers with 40 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists on the back of shooting 13-of-28 from the field and 4-of-9 from downtown.

Wade Hitchcock contributed 26 points as well for South West with Clive Weeden finishing with 21 points and six rebounds, Ty Harrelson 17 points, 11 assists and seven boards, and Brian Voelkel 10 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and two blocked shots.

Bennie Lewis did all he could to try and get the Buccaneers over the line with 36 points, nine rebounds and four assists with Quincy Hankins-Cole stepping into the starting line-up in the absence of Aaron Ralph, and finishing with 30 points, 16 boards and five blocked shots.

Carter Cook added 23 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and three steals also for the Buccs with Daniel Thomas finishing with 20 points and three assists in the absence of Luke Wrensted. Captain Mat Wundenberg also had three points, 17 rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Gavin Field had his second tremendous game of the weekend with 35 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots on Saturday night on the back of shooting 12-of-21 from the field and 5-of-13 from downtown.

Najee Lane added 23 points, eight rebounds and four assists for the Cougars with Sheldon McIntyre also having 12 points, seven boards, four assists and three steals, and Grant Davey 10 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Jamie Barnett top-scored for the Eagles with 22 points while Drew Williamson added 21 points, Rhys Vague 16 (12 rebounds) and Sunday Dech seven (15 rebounds, five assists).

Playing-coach Joe-Alan Tupaea also finished with nine points and eight assists.

Taylor Mullenax led the way for the Magic with 30 points, nine rebounds, three steals, two blocked shots and two assists while Rhett Della adding 23 points, 11 boards and three assists.

Ben Smith contributed 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Mandurah while Paul Hafford finished with 14 points, 11 boards, 10 assists and five steals giving him a triple-double.

Damien Scott top-scored for the Tigers with 19 points with Corey Easley contributing 15 points, Mitch Clarke 14, Kyle Armour 13, Hayden Noordhoek 11 (six rebounds) and Ephrem Davis 10 (nine rebounds, three blocks).

Seb Salinas finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Wolves with Trian Iliadis adding 19 points and Damian Matacz 17 and seven boards off the bench.

Rob Huntington contributed 15 points as well for Joondalup City and Kevin Davis 10 to go with nine rebounds and two steals.

Bryton Hobbs did all he could to try and get the Hawks over the line with 33 points with Mike Krumel adding 10 points and 10 rebounds, Ryan Smith 10 points, eight boards and five assists, and Ben Purser nine points and seven rebounds.

Jordan Swing continued his terrific form for the Lightning with another 27 points, 12 rebounds and five assists with Corey Martin adding 25 points, five boards, three assists and two steals.

Brad Jackson came into the starting line-up for Lakeside with 19 points and seven rebounds while Jarrad Prue also started and pulled in 20 rebounds to go with five points.

Ray Turner had 25 points and 16 rebounds for the Redbacks shooting an efficient 9-of-15 from the floor with fellow import adding 14 points, five boards, two assists and two blocked shots.

Ben Smith finished with 14 points and four rebounds as well for Perth with Joel Wagner contributing five points, six rebounds and six assists.

FRIDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars 107 defeated Bethanie Stirling Senators 102
Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames 76 lost to Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves 106

SATURDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Siler Lake Resources Goldfields Giants 105 defeated Kalamunda Eastern Suns 89
S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers 117 lost to Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 122
Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles 84 lost to Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars 91
Mandurah Magic 106 defeated Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 92
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves 85 defeated Perry Lakes Hawks 79
Perth Redbacks 80 lost to Lakeside Lightning 90

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Serene-Elise Photography