TWO months ago the Perry Lakes Hawks men were heading towards missing the playoffs again, but a win over the minor premiers set things in motion and now they have a chance to tackle the Joondalup City Wolves in a David v Goliath battle according to coach Charles Nix.

A loss to the playoff bound Rockingham Flames back in Week 13 saw the Hawks slip to a 4-12 record but six days later they hit back at the Bendat Basketball Centre with a 97-71 win over the Wolves who ended up finishing three games clear on top of the men's standings.

From there, Perry Lakes was able to build some momentum and go on a run of winning eight of nine games to book in a place in the playoffs for 2015 and to set up a quarter-final meeting with the Wolfpack starting this Friday night at Bendat Basketball Centre.

While Nix acknowledges that the Wolves go into the series as favourites having been the dominant team of the regular season, with star import Bryton Hobbs leading the way with help from Ben Purser, Ryan Smith, Rob Cassir, Josh Garlepp, Ben Dixon and Mike Krumel he rightly expects the Hawks to put in a strong showing.

"The group is excited about the challenge of facing the best team in the competition in these playoffs, they are deep in all positions and have (in my opinion) the coach of the year (Ben Ettridge)," Nix said.

"Rightfully so people aren't giving us much of a chance in this series as they have only dropped three games this season and we have lost 14.

"It's somewhat of a David vs Goliath battle but we are confident that we can match it with them if we play the right way, the regular season match ups prove this."

The first half of the season seemed to have one hiccup after another for Perry Lakes, but the return of Hobbs sparked the turnaround and now Nix is looking forward to seeing how their outstanding last two months of form stacks up against the Wolves over the next fortnight.

"As a young group this is a great opportunity to see how far we have come. With all of the injuries we have had the boys hung tough and really knuckled down when our backs were against the wall so we'll keep working to do it again," he said.

"We have leaped every hurdle that has been presented in front of us and have really embraced the challenge of turning it around. I don't think there is a bigger hurdle in the league so I'm excited to see how we tackle this."

While Nix fully understands how deep and good of a team the Wolfpack possess, he enters the quarter-final match up confident that if the Hawks play as they have been the last two months, and stick to their beliefs that an eighth over first upset remains a possibility.

"We have the belief that we can match it with any team in the league, but we are very wary and respectful of how dangerous they can be if we are not locked in and ready to compete," Nix said.

"Other than the obvious stars they have in Iliadis, Davis, Salinas, Huntington and Matacz they have a really solid support group that can hurt you if you give them half a step. We have a lot of respect for this group and have systems in place to make sure we limit their opportunities."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Serene-Elise Photography