IT WAS a huge weekend of men's SBL action with three individual games of 40-plus points, 11 of 30-plus and the Mandurah Magic improving to second spot with the Rockingham Flames, Geraldton Buccaneers and Lakeside Lightning all splitting two games for the round.

Week 7 of the men's SBL started on Thursday night with the Cockburn Cougars snapping their losing run with a 101-85 win over the Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre.

Also on Thursday, the Orange Autos Rockingham Flames maintained top spot on the ladder with a 94-83 victory over the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers at Eaton Recreation Centre.

There was just the one fixture on Anzac Day with the Willetton Tigers continuing their improved form with a 111-99 win over the Kalamunda Eastern Suns at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

There were four big matches on Saturday night with the Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers beating the Lakeside Lightning 121-97 at Lakeside Recreation Centre and the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers defeating the Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants 106-92.

The Perth Redbacks also defeated the Perry Lakes Hawks 113-93 at the WA Basketball Centre and the Mandurah Magic beat the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 126-115 at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

The round concluded on Sunday with the Stirling Senators downing the Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers 108-94 at Warwick Leisure Centre, the Joondalup Wolves beating the Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles 99-89 at Joondalup Basketball Stadium and the Lakeside Lightning overcoming the Orange Autos Rockingham Flames 111-106 at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

The results mean that the Orange Autos Rockingham Flames remain atop of the standings with a 9-2 record while the Mandurah Magic have now moved up into second spot at 6-2.

Just behind are the Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers (7-3), Lakeside Lightning (6-3), Perth Redbacks (6-3), Joondalup Wolves (5-3), Stirling Senators (4-3) and Perry Lakes Hawks (4-4).

Just outside the top-eight are the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers (3-5), Willetton Tigers (3-5), Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles (3-8), Cockburn Cougars (2-6), Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants (2-7) and Kalamunda Eastern Suns (2-8).

On top of the fascinating team results, there were some huge individual performances across the four days and 10 matches with three players scoring at least 40 points, and another 11 scoring at least 30.

Gavin Field had a huge night for the Cougars on Thursday with 29 points, 15 rebounds, six blocked shots, three assists and two steals. He also shot 10-of-16 from the field and 4-of-6 from three-point range.

Anthony Borden also added 18 points, eight rebounds and three blocks for the Cougars while shooting 7-of-11 from the floor.

Sunday Dech led the way for the Eagles finishing with 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting from the field including 3-of-4 from downtown.

Cooper Land continued his hot form for the Flames with another 26 points and 12 rebounds while shooting 7-of-18 from the field, and 7-of-8 from the foul line.

Tom Remmerswaal was also terrific for Rockingham with 24 points and four rebounds.

Clive Weeden top-scored for the Slammers with 22 points and 11 rebounds with Ty Harrelson adding 21 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, and Jonathan Todd Hendley 14 points and six rebounds.

Once again on Anzac Day, Willetton's two imports were the stars of the show with Quinn McDowell top-scoring with 32 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals, and John Dickson added 31 points, seven boards and three assists.

Louis Timms top-scored for the Eastern Suns with 29 points, nine rebounds, three blocked shots and three assists with Ben Smith adding 23 points.

Bennie Lewis and Odartey Blankson both had massive games for the Buccaneers on Saturday with Lewis finishing with 41 points and six assists on the back of shooting 16-of-27 from the field and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free-throw line.

Big man Blankson also contributed 40 points, 16 rebounds and four assists while shooting 17-of-28 from the floor and 4-of-6 from downtown.

Tom Parkinson top-scored for Lakeside with 19 points and 11 rebounds with Brad Tinsley adding 17 points, seven boards and five assists.

Playing-coach Ty Harrelson had a huge night for the Slammers with 38 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists while shooting 8-of-12 from three-point territory.

Clive Weeden also contributed 28 points and 10 rebounds for South West.

Miles Tierney top-scored for the Giants with 27 points and Duran Blue added 21 and Tommy Hannon 18 to go with 14 rebounds, six assists and two blocked shots.

Dennis Tawhiti top-scored for the Redbacks with 22 points and eight rebounds with Marshall Nelson adding 18 points (11 rebounds), Jarrad Prior 18, Stan Okoye 18 (nine rebounds), Jarrad Jackson 13 and Joel Wagner 11 (seven assists, six boards).

Justin Cecil did all he could for the Hawks with 22 points while shooting 9-of-17 from the field.

Paul Hafford and Taylor Mullenax both had huge nights for Mandurah with Hafford finishing with 32 points, 13 assists, nine rebounds and four steals while Mullenax had 32 points and 12 rebounds while shooting 13-of-16 from the floor.

Ben Smith added 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Magic with Rhett Della Maddalena and Brendan Della Maddalena both scoring 12 points.

Adhar Mayen tried to inspire the Suns to the win with 36 points with Ben Smith adding 27 points, Joel Questel 19 and Mike Krumel 17.

Rob Huntington was the star for Joondalup on Sunday finishing with 38 points, 14 rebounds and five blocks while shooting 16-of-25 from the floor.

Seb Salinas added a triple-double made up of 26 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists with Sean Easther also contributing 11 points and 11 boards.

Sunday Dech again top-scored for East Perth with 27 points and eight rebounds.

Caleb Palkert was unstoppable for the Lightning finishing the afternoon with 43 points, seven rebounds and six blocked shots while shooting 17-of-25 from the field and 7-of-10 from downtown.

Brad Tinsley also added 25 points and eight assists for Lakeside with Brad Jackson contributing 12 points and Jarrad Prue 12 to go with another supremely-impressive 23 rebounds.

Cooper Land top-scored for Rockingham with 31 points and eight rebounds with Andrew Bowman contributing 29 points, Tom Remmerswaal 20 and Taylor Land 18 to go with 10 rebounds and eight assists.

Josh Throns was the star of the afternoon for the Senators with 31 points and eight rebounds on the back of shooting 10-of-20 including 6-of-11 from three-point territory.

Austin Bruton also added 19 points, Jordan Wild 16 (16 rebounds), Cody Ellis 16 and Nikolas Iliadis 14.

Carter Cook did all he could for the Buccaneers finishing with 34 points and seven rebounds with Odartey Blankson 32 points, nine boards and six assists.

However, the Buccs dearly missed Bennie Lewis for most of the game with him restricted to just 10 minutes of court time and three points.

THURSDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles 85 lost to Cockburn Cougars 101
Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 83 lost to Orange Auto Rockingham Flames 94

FRIDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Willetton Tigers 111 defeated Kalamunda Eastern Suns 99

SATURDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Lakeside Lightning 97 lost to Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers 121
Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants 92 lost to Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 106
Perry Lakes Hawks 93 lost to Perth Redbacks 113
Kalamunda Eastern Suns 115 lost to Mandurah Magic 126

SUNDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Stirling Senators 108 defeated Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers 94
Joondalup Wolves 99 defeated Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles 89
Orange Autos Rockingham Flames 106 lost to Lakeside Lightning 111

Article by Chris Pike