THE South West Slammers, Joondalup Wolves and Rockingham Flames all remain unbeaten in the men's SBL for 2015 after three rounds while the Goldfields Giants are the only team yet to record a victory despite the best efforts of Mathiang Muo on Saturday night.

The Slammers scored wins over the Senators and Eastern Suns on the weekend while the Wolves beat the Giants, the Flames downed the Redbacks and the Buccaneers continued their hot form beating the Lightning.

At the other end of the scale, the Giants are yet to win while the defending champion Eagles continued to struggle early in 2015 along with the Redbacks.

On Friday night, the Willetton Tigers beat the Cockburn Cougars 104-102 at Willetton Basketball Stadium and the Rockingham Flames downed the Perth Redbacks 106-86 at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

It was then a jam packed Saturday night of action with five matches beginning with the Geraldton Buccaneers beating the Lakeside Lightning 117-105 at Active West Stadium and the Joondalup Wolves downing the Goldfields Giants 111-101 at Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium.

The Perry Lakes Hawks then won the thriller of the night beating the Mandurah Magic 91-90 at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre while the Cockburn Cougars beat the East Perth 110-94 at Wally Hagan Stadium and the South West Slammers defeated the Stirling Senators 130-116 at Warwick Leisure Centre.

The two fixtures to close out the round on Sunday saw the Mandurah Magic beat the Perth Redbacks 110-105 at Curtin Stadium and the South West Slammers down the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 105-88 at Eaton Recreation Centre.

Following three rounds of the 2015 season, the South West Slammers (5-0) sit atop the standings ahead of the Joondalup Wolves (3-0), Rockingham Flames (3-0), Geraldton Buccaneers (4-1), Willetton Tigers (3-1), Mandurah Magic (3-2), Cockburn Cougars (3-2) and Lakeside Lightning (1-3).

Outside the top eight are the Stirling Senators (1-3), Kalamunda Eastern Suns (1-3), Perry Lakes Hawks (1-3), Perth Redbacks (1-4), East Perth Eagles (1-4) and Goldfields Giants (0-4).

There were again a host of standout individual performances across the weekend starting on Friday night with Damien Scott play for the Tigers against the Cougars for the first time. He finished with 22 points, four rebounds and three steals for the Tigers while shooting 9-of-24 from the field and 3-of-13 from downtown.

Kyle Armour also had 22 points and seven assists for Willetton while Ephrem Davis contributed 15 points, 11 boards, three blocks, two steals and two assists.

Najee Lane did all he could for the Cougars finishing with 26 points, seven rebounds and four assists while Gavin Field had another good night leading his team with 25 points, seven boards and four assists. Eric Milam added 22 points and seven rebounds.

Cooper Land again delivered a strong performance for Rockingham with 28 points, nine rebounds and five assists with Tom Remmerswaal adding 22 points and seven boards.

Travis Moore contributed 12 points and four rebounds from the bench with Luke Roberts adding 10 points and Taylor Land 10 points to go with 13 rebounds and 13 assists in a triple-double.

Ray Turner led the way for the Redbacks with 23 points and eight rebounds with Dennis Tawhiti contributing 13 points and nine boards, Joel Wagner 13 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

And then on Saturday night, Bennie Lewis led the way for the Buccs with 30 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two blocked shots while Carter Cook wasn’t far behind adding 29 points, five boards, three steals and two blocks.

Jordan Swing did all he could to spark the Lightning with 38 points and 14 rebounds which included him hitting 4-of-9 from three-point territory.

Luke Thomas also had 20 points and seven rebounds for Lakeside while Tom Parkinson finished with 16 points and six boards.

Trian Iliadis led the way for the Wolves finishing with 31 points, eight assists, five rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots.

Kevin Davis had another double-double for Joondalup with 28 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks and two assists as well with Seb Salinas having his biggest performance of the new season with 25 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Mathiang Muo made a big contribution with the Giants in his first SBL appearance of the new season coming off playing in East Perth's championship victory in 2014.

He delivered 31 points, 17 rebounds, four assists and three steals while shooting 12-of-23 from the floor and 6-of-9 from downtown in an impressive display.

Jacob Holmen also added 25 points, nine rebounds and three assists for Goldfields with Jay Bowie finishing with 13 points, six boards and six assists, and Rob Hurst 11 points and five rebounds.

Eric Milam, Gavin Field and Najee Lane were all outstanding for the Cougars in setting up the victory over the Eagles.

Milam delivered 29 points and seven rebounds with Field adding 26 points, nine rebounds, seven blocked shots and six assists, and Lane 22 points, 17 rebounds, nine assists and three steals.

Between the trio they also shot an impressive 30-of-54 from the field. Sheldon McIntyre also did well contributing four points, nine rebounds and five assists.

Drew Williamson put in a big performance in the loss for the Eagles with 25 points on the back of shooting 7-of-9 from the field, 2-of-2 from downtown and 9-of-11 from the foul line.

Sunday Dech also delivered 24 points for East Perth, Jamie Barnett 15, Rhys Vague 13 (nine rebounds) and Brighton Pass 12 (six rebounds, three assists and two steals).

Clive Weeden top-scored for the Slammers with 34 points but it was the fact that four South West players all had big nights that was the key to the victory.

Tre Nichols contributed 32 points as well while playing-coach Ty Harrellson also had 23 points, nine assists and five rebounds with Brian Voelkel almost delivering another triple-double finishing with 11 points, 20 rebounds and eight assists.

Cody Ellis led the way for the Senators with 26 points, nine rebounds and four assists with Kyle Lindbergh adding 23 points, seven boards and four assists. Ryan Woodbury also finished with 20 points for Stirling and Austin Bruton 17.

Bryton Hobbs delivered his best performance of his SBL career to date for the Hawks finishing with 30 points, seven rebounds and five assists even if he did shoot just 8-of-27 from the floor, 4-of-13 from downtown and 10-of-19 from the charity stripe.

Ben Purser also delivered 20 points, 12 rebounds and four assists for Perry Lakes with James Elliott contributing 10 points and four boards.

Taylor Mullenax delivered a good performance for the Magic with 21 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and three steals while shooting 8-of-16 from the field.

Jarrad Jackson also contributed 16 points, seven assists and five rebounds for Mandurah with Ben Smith finishing with 14 points, 13 rebounds and three assists.

And finally on Sunday, Paul Hafford led the way for the Magic with 31 points and seven rebounds in the win with Taylor Mullenax again delivering a strong performance with 24 points, seven boards and two steals.

Ben Smith had a good afternoon for Mandurah as well with 21 points, 13 rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots.

Ray Turner did all he could for the Redbacks finishing with 31 points, 19 rebounds, four blocks, three steals and three assists on the back of shooting 11-of-20 from the floor and 9-of-11 from the charity stripe.

Ben Smith contributed 25 points for the Redbacks as well with Joel Wagner finishing with 10 points, 12 assists, six rebounds and two steals.

Tre Nichols had another terrific game for the Slammers with 30 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals while Clive Weeden backed up his big game on Saturday night with another 21 points and 13 boards.

Playing-coach Ty Harrelson had 20 points and nine assists with Brian Voelkel also delivering 11 points and 24 rebounds. Trent Worthington finished with 11 points, five rebounds and three assists as well.

Lien Phillip did all he could to try to spark the Suns to victory with 34 points and 21 rebounds while shooting 12-of-20 from the field and a perfect 9-of-9 from the free-throw line.

Seva Chan also had 16 points and seven assists for the Eastern Suns and Kerrod Horn 12 points.

FRIDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Willetton Tigers 104 defeated Cockburn Cougars 102
Rockingham Flames 106 defeated Perth Redbacks 86

SATURDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Geraldton Buccaneers 117 defeated Lakeside Lightning 105
Goldfields Giants 101 lost to Joondalup Wolves 111
Mandurah Magic 90 lost to Perry Lakes Hawks 91
Cockburn Cougars 110 defeated East Perth Eagles 94
Stirling Senators 116 lost to South West Slammers 130

SUNDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Perth Redbacks 103 lost to Mandurah Magic 110
South West Slammers 105 defeated Kalamunda Eastern Suns 88

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Mick Cronin