THE top four Men's SBL teams all scored Game 1 quarter-final victories last weekend meaning their lower seeded opponents now must win their Game 2's starting this Friday night to force the deciders to determine the semi-final combatants.

Top four teams the Cockburn Cougars, Joondalup Wolves, Willetton Tigers and Geraldton Buccaneers all scored Game 1 quarter-final victories last weekend – with the Buccs the only one of those to do so away from home.

That means that Geraldton has two opportunities at home this weekend to secure its series with the Rockingham Flames while the Perry Lakes Hawks, Perth Redbacks and Stirling Senators must win their Game 2 match ups on their home floor to force Game 3's also this weekend.

Those three quarter-final Game 2 contests all take place on Friday night with the Perry Lakes Hawks facing the Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars, the Bethanie Stirling Senators taking on the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers and the Texture WA Perth Redbacks battling the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves.

A win for the Hawks would force a deciding Game 3 against the Cougars at Wally Hagan Stadium on Saturday night with a Senators win over the Tigers to lead to the decider also on Saturday at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

Meanwhile, a win for the Redbacks and the Wolves would host Game 3 at Joondalup Basketball Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Active West Stadium will host Game 2 between the S&K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers and Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames with the Flames needing to win to force the decider on Sunday back at the same venue.

Black eyes another all-round performance for Tigers to advance 
Hussey delivers for Buccs who now await Adekponya return 
Week 1 Sunday Men's SBL Quarter Final wrap 
Week 1 Saturday night Men's SBL Quarter Final wrap 
Week 1 Friday night Men's SBL Quarter Final wrap 

Starting with Friday night's Game 2 matches, the No. 8 seeded Hawks need to beat the minor premier Cougars on their home floor to force a decider back at Wally Hagan Stadium.

Despite the Cougars winning 109-104 last Saturday night, the Hawks would have taken plenty of heart from the way they finished the game with 38 fourth quarter points to only lose by five after being 19 points down heading into the fourth quarter.

With Perry Lakes having also beaten Cockburn in their last regular season meeting, the Hawks have reason to have some confidence of forcing a Game 3 heading into Friday's contest at Bendat Basketball Centre.

Last Saturday, Bryton Hobbs had 28 points, eight assists, seven rebounds and four steals while Ryan Smith had 27 points, Brian Carlwell 24 points and 19 boards, and Ben Purser 13 points and nine rebounds. Similar performances again would put Perry Lakes within a chance.

Marcus Goode had a good SBL finals debut last week, though, for the Cougars with 34 points and seven rebounds while Najee Lane contributed 28 points, 11 boards and five steals, Dan Thomas 14 points, and Gavin Field 13 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three blocks.

The Wolves are the defending Men's SBL champions and finished the 2016 regular season in second position, and proved too strong in Game 1 beating the Redbacks 110-95 last Saturday night at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

Despite being without captain Seb Salinas, the Wolves pulled away in the fourth quarter to end up winning by 15 points with Kevin Davis top-scoring with 25 points while Trian Iliadis added 21, Greg Hire 20 and Rob Huntington 11.

The Redbacks did welcome back big man Michael Vigor who had 23 points and six rebounds while Jourdan DeMuynck had a strong night for Perth with 33 points, six rebounds, four steals and three assists. Joel Wagner added 16 points.

Perth will need huge performances from their whole squad this weekend starting Friday night in what is also Ben Smith's 200th SBL appearance.

The Senators also hit their home floor on Friday needing to beat the Tigers after Willetton dominated the second half last Friday at Willetton Basketball Stadium to end up beating Stirling 110-97.

The Tigers pulled away in the third quarter to set up the win on the back of a huge performance by Jay Bowie who had 36 points and seven assists while nailing six triples. He got plenty of help with Kyle Armour finishing with 21 points and 10 assists, Josh Johnson 17 points and Nic Cody 11 to go with eight rebounds.

The Senators fought hard but will need a lift across the floor if they are to force the Game 3. Last Friday Kyle Lindbergh top-scored with 26 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots and Ashley Litterick was a spark off the bench with 18 points.

But the rest of Stirling's key players would have all left Willetton feeling they had much better performances in them and they will now need to show that on Friday at Warwick Stadium.

Tigers coach Stephen Black has no doubt that the Senators will come out and perform a lot better on Friday, and he knows his team will need to be prepared for that.

"I think they are going to look at it and think they can play a lot better too, and it's going to be important that we look at the video and work out how we were able to play well, and the kinds of things they are looking to do," Black said.

"We will look at how we were able to compete the way we did and hopefully create something similar now going into next week."

Then on Saturday night, the Buccaneers host the Flames in Geraldton with Rockingham needing to win on the road to force a deciding Game 3 also at Active West Stadium on Sunday.

It was a dramatic weekend for Game 1 for both teams with the Saturday night contest forced to be rescheduled to Sunday following a power blackout.

And it was the home team Flames who were on track for a big win most of the afternoon until the Buccs opened the fourth quarter with a 20-2 run and went on to win a remarkable contest 107-105.

That leaves Rockingham with plenty of work to do to make it through to the semi finals in what is likely the last season with the club for star imports Taylor and Cooper Land. On Sunday, Cooper finished with 37 points and Taylor 10 rebounds and seven assists.

Ryan Godfrey also had 22 points, Chudier Pal 14 (18 rebounds), Matthew Honey 10 and Luke Roberts 10 but for Rockingham to win in Geraldton everyone will need to stand up even further.

The Buccs not only scored the remarkable comeback win on the road, but did so without star Matthew Adekponya who is expected back in time from Rio to play on Saturday night.

Jackson Hussey stepped up in his absence on Sunday with 39 points while Maurice Barrow scored 27, Carter Cook 16, Mat Wundenberg 10 and Aaron Ralph eight.

Geraldton coach Aaron Trahair knows that the Buccs can't take anything for granted now, though, despite returning home.

"We were always confident about winning at home. We have only lost the one game there all season so we are a far better team at home and obviously we'll get Matty back which is another bonus," Trahair said.

"One of the things we did say quickly after the game was to enjoy the win, but at the same time realise only half the job is done. It's not going to happen for us at home automatically, we still have to make our own luck and do a lot of things right.

"I am expecting another resilient performance from Rockingham and they are a team I know pretty well having been involved with them the last couple of years. They have some strong willed guys who are going to bounce back and make it as difficult as possible for us to get that next win."

GAME 2 MEN'S QUARTER FINAL MATCHES
FRIDAY
Perry Lakes Hawks v Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars, Bendat Basketball Centre 7.30pm
Bethanie Stirling Senators v Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers, Warwick Stadium 7.30pm
Texture WA Perth Redbacks v Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves, Belmont Oasis Leisure Centre 8.30pm

SATURDAY
S&K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers v Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames, Active West Stadium 7.30pm

GAME 3 MEN'S QUARTER FINAL MATCHES (IF REQUIRED)
SATURDAY
Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers v Bethanie Stirling Senators, Willetton Basketball Stadium 8pm
Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars v Perry Lakes Hawks, Wally Hagan Stadium 8pm

SUNDAY
S&K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers v Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames, Active West Stadium 12pm
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves v Texture WA Perth Redbacks, Joondalup Basketball Stadium 2pm

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Serene-Elise Photography