THE opening round of the 2017 Men's SBL season concluded on Sunday with the Geraldton Buccaneers and East Perth Eagles both winning their second games for the weekend.

There were two games on Sunday afternoon to conclude the opening round of the season with the Geraldton Buccaneers and Goldfields Giants both playing the second part of their road double-headers.

Things got underway at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre with the East Perth Eagles beating the Goldfields Giants 99-78. The Geraldton Buccaneers then went on to defeat the Lakeside Lightning 99-85 at Lakeside Recreation Centre.

Week 1 Saturday night men's SBL results 
Week 1 Friday night men's SBL results 

At Morley, East Perth backed up its strong win on Friday night against the Kalamunda Eastern Suns by beating the Giants by 21 points on Sunday. And the Eagles scored both victories with imports Kevin Davis and Kevin Anthony yet to suit up.

The Giants lost their second game of the weekend under new coach Lou Causer after also going down to the Perth Redbacks on Saturday night.

The Eagles made a fast start to lead by 10 points by quarter-time and 27 by half-time before going on to win by 21.

Drew Williamson is an NBL and SBL championship winner, and showed he's got plenty to offer still with 21 points.

Corey Easley added 19 points and seven rebounds for East Perth, Aiden Murphy 13 points, Dennis Tawhiti 11 points and eight boards, Mason Bragg 10 points and six assists, and Ngor Manyang 10 points and six rebounds.

JB Pillard did all he could for the Giants to finish with 26 points and eight rebounds but he didn’t receive enough help. Jerome Reid added 12 points, three rebounds and three assists for Goldfields, and Daniel Forlano 10 points.

Then at Lakeside, it was a tight first half between the Lightning and Buccs with both teams coming off wins on Saturday night. Lakeside beat the South West Slammers and Geraldton downed the Eastern Suns.

But the Buccs had too much firepower in the second half to pull away and end up winning by 14 points in the 350th SBL appearance of captain Mat Wundenberg.

Dwayne Benjamin was again the star for Geraldton putting in a supremely impressive performance ending up with 29 points, nine rebounds and four assists.

After the game, Benjamin was pleased to get through his first double-header road trip to Perth with two wins. Even though he combined for 62 points, 14 rebounds and 11 assists, he expects more from himself.

"Our main goal was to come out here to come and get both wins. We got it done and it's pretty big for us," Benjamin said.

"This league has tough guys and it's a good league, but I think we have a really good team and this second win was a tough one. On Saturday it wasn’t easy either but this one to back up was hard and we did well.

"In the fourth quarter we had a few turnovers and got a bit sloppy at the end, that's just due to fatigue, but we toughed it out. That five-hour bus trip is no joke but that just makes the team better to fight through that and it flips on the other teams when they come and play us.

"I know I can play better. I rebounded better in this second game after I only had five on Saturday and that's not enough. I still think I could have played better defence but overall it was a pretty good weekend considering I haven’t played in a couple of months."

He also had plenty of help with the Buccs with Mo Barrow adding 21 points and 10 rebounds, Matthew Hancock 18 points and three assists, Jackson Hussey 13 points and four assists, and Aaron Ralph a nice cameo with 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting from deep.

James Padgett stood tall for the Lightning ending the afternoon with 26 points and 19 rebounds. Daniel Grida was also impressive with 22 point.

Devon Atkinson had 12 points and seven assists also for Lakeside with Corey Shervill contributing nine points and seven rebounds.

However, Atkinson and Darrell Morgan shot a combined 6-of-26 from the field and 2-of-9 from long range. They are two players the Lightning need to fire and shoot a higher percentages to be a force in 2017.

FRIDAY NIGHT ROUND 1 MEN'S SBL RESULTS
East Perth Eagles 92 defeated Kalamunda Eastern Suns 75
Rockingham Flames 77 lost to Perth Redbacks 102
Perry Lakes Hawks 87 lost to Stirling Senators 94

SATURDAY NIGHT ROUND 1 MEN'S SBL RESULTS
Perth Redbacks 78 defeated Goldfields Giants 60
Kalamunda Eastern Suns 84 lost to Geraldton Buccaneers 119
Joondalup Wolves 104 defeated Cockburn Cougars 101
South West Slammers 82 lost to Lakeside Lightning 84
Willetton Tigers 87 defeated Mandurah Magic 73

SUNDAY ROUND 1 MEN'S SBL RESULTS
East Perth Eagles 99 defeated Goldfields Giants 78
Lakeside Lightning 85 lost to Geraldton Buccaneers 99

Photo by Vikki Hile