THE Cockburn Cougars had to give everything to get into the SBL semi finals after battling the Perry Lakes Hawks but now coach Matt Parsons is focused on plotting the downfall of the Geraldton Buccaneers as the minor premiers embark on the rest of 2016 minus captain Gavin Field.

The Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars had an outstanding regular season finishing on top of the standings with an 18-4 record on the back of winning in the final round against the Joondalup Wolves, and then things looked good for three and-a-half quarters in Game 1 against the Hawks.

But that's when captain Field went down with a nasty elbow injury that ended his season and the spirited Perry Lakes made a big comeback in that game but just fell short.

The Hawks then won Game 2 on their home floor before the Cougars showed some heart to hold on and win Game 3 on Saturday night 130-115 back at Wally Hagan Stadium to advance to the semi finals against the Buccs starting with Game 1 this Saturday night at Active West Stadium.

Week 2 Men's Quarter Final Saturday night wrap 

While the Cougars will certainly miss the quality and experience of Field, and imports Marcus Goode and Najee Lane have been terrific all season, Cockburn's depth has been a great strength in 2016 with the likes of Rhett Della, Dan Thomas, Sheldon McIntyre, Julian Pesava, Steven Van Lit, Travis Hayton and now the returned Alex Prince.

It is that depth that didn’t cause Parsons to panic once Field went down injured and after being relieved to win over the Hawks in three games, his focus immediately went on to the dangerous Buccaneers.

"The minute that final whistle went, my thoughts went immediately to the Buccs. Although it's time to be happy after winning a series and you can celebrate what we've done, it's time for us to get serious and go to another level," Parsons said.

"We took Perry Lakes fully seriously, but we now need to go up another level because Geraldton is a hell of a basketball team. They've got some NBL talent on that squad and some really good imports so we need to be up and about for them. We will do all our preparation and hope it puts us in good stead."

As for the quarter-final series against the Hawks, Parsons never expected it to be easy and it certainly wasn’t for the minor premiers, and he pays full credit to Perry Lakes and coach Charles Nix for that.

"The first thing I'd like to say is that Nixy did a hell of a job getting his boys ready. They threw everything they had at us and probably for two thirds of that series, they had control of the tempo. That's a hell of a credit to him and his team," he said.

"They had some guys step up with Bryton (Hobbs) having a hell of a series and big Brian (Carlwell) had a hell of a series as well, but we are really happy to tick off our first goal and now we have the next one to go, and our immediate focus turns to Gero."

Much of the reason Parsons wasn’t concerned that Field's injury could prove fatal was because of the depth he has built at the Cougars in 2016 and because they had become used to being without their captain late in the season when he was sidelined with a calf injury.

Parsons' faith in his group was rewarded on Saturday night with Pesava delivering a career-high 31 points nailing five of his six three-point attempts. Thomas added 19 points and Della 18 on top of the 26 and 12 rebounds from Goode, and 22 Lane.

"I wasn’t nervous for the sole reason that we didn’t have Gav for a month at the end of the season there so we learnt to play without him. Sometimes it can be a blessing in disguise and when one goes down, someone else steps up," Parsons said.

"Julian Pesava had a career-high 31 points, DT was active and we got some really good contributions from guys like Hayto, Stevie van Lit and Alex Prince made his long-awaited return after a long injury. We had some excitement and our depth has been important all year, and now it's showing why."

While the Cougars are focusing on winning without him now, Parsons can't help but feel for Field who is the heart and soul of Cockburn and has been for some time now.

"He is just a tough kid. He is a great player but he's one of the most coachable guys I've ever met, and his preparation is second to none. He has been really resilient throughout his career and hasn’t had too many niggling injuries, but now this year he's had two on top of each other," he said.

"It is heartbreaking for Gav but he's probably taken it better than anybody and we have to get on with it. We know he's not going to be available for the rest of the season so we just have to move on and it's someone else's opportunity."

The recruitment of Rhett Della always appeared a shrewd signing for the Cougars coming into the year and the veteran forward becomes even more important now that Field is out. Parsons couldn’t be happier to have him to call on.

"It's a luxury to now have Rhett Della to call on even more. He is a well experienced player who no doubt will thrive in these conditions and will be looking forward to it," he said.

"At the back end of his career, Rhett won't leave anything dying or wondering so he's going to have a fair crack at this and I can't wait to see what he can produce."

Another player Parsons can't help but be excited about with his development is 21-year-old Pesava.

His growth this year will now see him soon play under Ty Harrelson at Wayland Baptist University, but before that he will be a key part of the Cougars' semi-final campaign and potentially the Grand Final after showing his quality with 31 points in the deciding Game 3 on Saturday night.

"I have a lot of time for the kid. I think he's going to be a phenomenal player and he only turned 21 last week. Sometimes the game gets a little bit ahead of him and he can make a bad decision or two, but what value he adds," Parsons said.

"His weakside defence is phenomenal always, he can rebound as well as anybody and he has so much upside. If he starts knocking his shot down more regularly, he can tear a game open.

"He works harder than anyone else and I haven’t met a 21-year-old who has outworked him before and he's now going to college at Wayland Baptist.

"He leaves in the next couple of weeks and that's a really good opportunity to learn under Ty which will help his off-ball movement and improve his shooting. I can't wait until I see him when he gets back."

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Mick Cronin