Majstrovich stings former side Kalamunda
Perth Redbacks forward Adrian Majstrovich has led his new side to a 121-104 road win over his old team, Kalamunda Eastern Suns, in the men's State Basketball League.
Majstrovich defected to Perth this year after two seasons with Kalamunda and gave the Suns a taste of what they will be missing with 44 points and 12 rebounds in Friday's round three clash.
The former Perth Wildcats player’s starring performance helped the Redbacks bounce back from a 36-point thrashing to Lakeside last week and improve to 3-1 this season, while Kalamunda fell to 2-2 after its two-game winning streak was broken.
The Suns led late in the first half but trailed by five at the main break and were taken out of the game when Perth outscored them 42-19 in the third quarter.
Kalamunda’s Dean Hadley led his side with 29 points, while fellow import Cedric Crawford added 16 points.
Ryan Neill supported Majstrovich’s 16-for-28 performance from the field with 32 points, while 20-year-old point guard Jarrad Jackson had 10 assists.
Perth coach David Harris said he was thrilled with the way his side bounced back from last week’s loss to Lakeside.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys on the floor at the moment, we’ve got three or four rookies in the rotation at the moment and I can’t praise them enough for what they’ve done,” he said.
“We’ve been focused on getting to a 50 per cent record before we get guys like Joel (Wagner) and Jesse (Wagstaff) coming in, but if we can win on Saturday (against Stirling), we’re going to be 4-1, which would make us delighted.”
Harris said Wagner wouldn’t require much rest following the NBL season and could be available for the Redbacks within the next two weeks, while Wagstaff was likely to return “around week nine or 10.”
In the women’s match, Kalamunda maintained its impressive start to the season with a 79-70 win over the Redbacks.
The Suns improved to 3-1 with their third straight victory, thanks largely to new import Leah Rush’s 23 points and 12 rebounds.
Perth cut Kalamunda’s nine-point lead early in the fourth quarter to just two points with three minutes left, but the Suns regained the momentum and held on.
Reigning PowerPlayer of the Week Marita Payne had 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Redbacks, but it wasn’t enough to prevent her side falling to 2-2.
Article by Jacob Kagi at Ray Owen Recreation Centre
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