WILLETTON Tigers coach Stephen Black saw some things his team could still improve despite beating the Stirling Senators in Game 1 of the SBL quarter finals but it was the all-round contribution of so many players that impressed him the most.

The Tigers ended up beating the Senators in Game 1 at Willetton Basketball Stadium 110-97 last Friday night.

Willetton had done well to just trail by three points at half-time with Stirling unable to take full benefit of getting into the bonus early in the second quarter, and the Tigers turned things around with 38 points to 24 in the third quarter to set up the eventual 13-point victory.

Week 1 Friday night Men's SBL Quarter Final wrap 

The win puts the Tigers in a strong position to advance to the semi finals with Game 2 against the Senators to take place at Warwick Stadium on Friday night, and then back at Willetton Basketball Stadium if required on Saturday.

Black made a winning start to his coaching career in the SBL finals at his first attempt and came away happy with the win, but feeling the Tigers can do a lot of things better this weekend.

"I thought our guys took a while to settle down and then after that they did everything that I could have hoped for. We all understand it's only one game and they will regroup, we will regroup and hopefully we can reproduce that effort again," Black said.

"I think it was one of those games where both teams probably felt they could have played a bit better, but I was really proud of the way our guys hung in there.

"We then just caught fire for a few minutes there in the third and that was sort of the difference. I'm really proud of the way the guys played."

While Jay Bowie was outstanding for Willetton finishing with 36 points and seven assists on the back of shooting 13-of-18 from the field and 6-of-7 from downtown, what Black was most impressed with on Friday was the contribution of a host of others.

Captain Kyle Armour was terrific running the team for 21 points and 10 assists while Josh Johnson hit all three of his long range attempts for 17 points.

Nic Cody (11 points, eight rebounds), Charles Funches (eight points, eight boards), Damien Scott (seven points, six rebounds) and Dan Casey (six points) all made valuable contributions as well.

Black was pleased to see such an all-round contribution from his team and for them not to rely on anyone taking over even though Bowie was a standout.

"Obviously Jay's a superstar but all year we have shown we have such a wealth of scoring talent. JJ was great and Scotty was as sick as a dog and did anything he could to still help us, and you put a guy like that in and it shows what it means," he said.

"I thought Kyle Armour was fantastic as well and that's where we have that wealth of offensive talent, and when they play defence together like they did they can really do good things.

"Dan Casey was sensational, Andrew (Black) was great, JJ at times as well and all of these guys came in and had an impact."

Another intriguing aspect of the quarter-final series between Willetton and Stirling is the fact that it is continuing the rich history of the Black and Ellis families in WA basketball.

With Mike Ellis coaching the Senators and his son Cody playing with Steve coaching the Tigers having taken over from his father Alan earlier this season, it provides an extra bit of intrigue.

Not that it's something Black is thinking about though, with all his focus on getting his team to play to their full potential.

"To be honest I didn’t even think about it. It's not something that even entered my mind and the playoffs are about players. I was just focusing on our guys," Black said.

"Coaching against Mike isn’t something I have a lot of thoughts about either way other than he's a good coach and he has a son who is a great player, and he has meant a lot to Stirling for a long time. Hopefully that's the kind of legacy I can leave here."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by June Halliday