THE top three Men's SBL teams the Cockburn Cougars, Joondalup Wolves and Willetton Tigers all host their opening quarter-final contests this weekend while the Geraldton Buccaneers look to win on the road in Rockingham to open the 2016 finals.

The finals for 2016 begin on Friday night with the third placed Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers taking on the sixth placed Bethanie Stirling Senators at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

Then on Saturday night, the fifth placed Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames host the fourth placed S&K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers to enable the Buccs to host both games next weekend if required.

Also on Saturday night, the Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars play the Perry Lakes Hawks at Wally Hagan Stadium and the defending champion Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves face the Texture WA Perth Redbacks at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

Ettridge has Wolves primed for back-to-back assault 
Parsons beaming over Cougars' toughness, depth heading into finals 
Championship for Willetton would fulfil long-held desire for Black 
Week 20 Men's SBL Wrap 

The lone Friday night Game 1 quarter-final contest sees the Tigers host the Senators in a match up featuring two teams only separated by one win by the end of the regular season.

After finishing sixth last season and losing in the first round of the playoffs to grand finalists the South West Slammers, the Tigers were able to add Jay Bowie to Kyle Armour, Damien Scott and Nic Cody this year and then later Charles Funches.

That helped them to finish the season with an 18-8 record in third position despite having a changeover in coach along the way with Stephen Black replacing his father Alan.

The Senators came into 2016 having missed the finals three of the previous four seasons and had a new coach with WA basketball great taking the helm of a group still including his son Cody and Kyle Lindbergh, and that added AJ Majstrovich and Corban Wroe.

The result has been Stirling finishing with a 17-9 record to be in sixth position to set up the quarter-final match up with the Tigers.

The Tigers won the first meeting over the Senators during the season by 14 points at home back on March 24 while Stirling prevailed at Warwick Stadium by 11 points on May 6.

There are plenty of exciting match ups all over the floor but who can provide the most energy off the bench as bigs out of Willetton's Funches and Stirling's Ashley Litterick could end up crucial to the final result.

The Cougars host the Hawks in Game 1 of their quarter-final match up and while it's one versus eight on paper, it shapes us a much more intriguing battle than that suggests.

Coming off a strong season in 2015 that saw the Cougars finish fourth but lose in the first round, they have gone up another level in 2016 to claim the minor premiership with a 22-4 record after beating the Joondalup Wolves last Friday night to close the season.

A big part of that has been the additions of Marcus Goode, Rhett Della and Dan Thomas, but equally has been the continuing form of Najee Lane, Gavin Field, Sheldon McIntyre and company.

The Hawks had a fight on their hands right throughout the season to qualify for the finals and only locked in eighth spot last Friday night with a hard fought win over the Kalamunda Eastern Suns that saw them end the campaign with an 11-15 record.

But with Bryton Hobbs and Brian Carlwell now playing well, and Ben Purser and Ben Dixon providing strong support, the Hawks enter the finals capable of an upset even without Jordan Hickert and Josh Garlepp.

The two teams split their meetings during the regular season with the Cougars winning the first at Bendat Basketball Centre by 12 points before the Hawks won the second at Wally Hagan Stadium by 12 as well.

Cougars coach Matt Parsons knows that the Hawks can't be taken lightly even as the eighth seed.

"They did beat us and they were 0.8 of a second away from knocking off Joondalup last year in the first round so we know they are going to be tough again. They were the eighth seed in that series too and they beat us a few weeks ago and we identified a few areas," Parsons said.

"Their wings hurt us a little bit and we allowed Dixon and Smith to go off, and it's hard to contest them.

"When you are overplaying the wings and Bryton Hobbs can penetrate and get to the rim, it's a tough cover. They are a fantastic team and we have to put everything we have into them. We have a fire in the belly from that loss and it's going to be a great match."

There are exciting match ups across the floor including Field up against Purser, but perhaps the most fascinating will be the battle of big men Goode and Carlwell. Both have the ability to dominate and Hawks skipper Purser has no doubt Carlwell will lift for the challenge.

"BC does seem extra motivated when he goes up against good bigs so the two times we've played Cockburn I've seen an extra spring in Brian's step," Purser said.

"Marcus is incredibly mobile and both of them are for their size, and they move really well. Marcus shoots really well but the key is who wins the battle on the boards, especially the O-boards. Whoever can give their team second chances is often where games are won and lost."

While the Buccs finished fourth and the Flames fifth, it will be Rockingham hosting Game 1 on Saturday to allow for the potential Games 2 and 3 next weekend in Geraldton.

The Flames are coming off a semi-final appearance in 2015 and have finished the 2016 regular season in terrific form to end on a 17-9 record in fifth position with a five-game winning streak.

With Cooper and Taylor Land likely in their last season with the Flames, the group is keen to go out on a high and with Chudier Pal inside, and a tenacious group including Ryan Godfrey, Matthew Honey, Ryan Jeffrey, Justin Beard and Andrew Bowman.

But the Buccs finished the regular season fourth at 18-8 with Matthew Adekponya starring in his first year with the club as has Maurice Barrow while veterans Mat Wundenberg, Carter Cook and Aaron Ralph continue to deliver.

Point guard Jackson Hussey has proved the icing on the cake as the Buccs try to make up for the first round loss to the Goldfields Giants last year on the back of the grand final appearance of 2014.

The teams first met in Geraldton in Week 5 with the Buccaneers winning a thriller by six points before the Flames won by 11 points in the return clash in Rockingham in Week 10.

Again it's hard to single out one match up in the game but the battle between veteran point Taylor Land and the exciting Hussey will be crucial in determining which team controls the flow of the contest.

It's then the defending champion Wolves taking on the Redbacks in what looms as another terrific quarter-final contest.

After winning the championship in 2015, Joondalup has put together another strong season finishing at 21-5 in second spot having just missed first place with a loss on the road to the Cougars last Friday.

They did lose second import Bobby Evans along the way and Ben Ironmonger is sidelined with a knee injury, but it is a similar Wolfpack outfit that dominated 2015 with the addition of two-time Perth Wildcats NBL championship winner Greg Hire along with Reece Maxwell.

The Redbacks had a disappointing 2015 missing the finals after a strong 2014 where they made the semi finals, and coach Nik Lackovic putting together a committed group who all complement each other tremendously.

With Lewis Thomas and Michael Vigor as the bigs, Reed McConnell and Ben Smith as good shooters, Jourdan DeMuynck an outstanding all-round player, Joel Wagner the leader and point guard and some good young talent, it's a good line-up Lackovic has.

Injuries to Wagner and Vigor late in the season did hurt and they finished in seventh position at 15-11, but Wagner has been back for a couple of weeks now and the Redbacks are confident Vigor will return this week and he will need to if they are to take it up to the Wolves.

During the regular season, the Wolves beat the Redbacks by 38 points at Joondalup back in Week 4 and then again by 28 points two weeks ago at Belmont Oasis.

The battle inside between Kevin Davis and Lewis Thomas will be physical and tough, and whoever can get the better of the glass and get to the basket most effectively will have a significant say on the result.

Wolves coach Ben Ettridge knows to expect a well-prepared and determined Redbacks outfit and he is full of respect for their abilities.

"They were sitting there watching us against Cockburn. We know that Jourdan DeMuynck is a quality import, Joel Wagner is ex-NBL and an all-time great in the SBL and Michael Vigor is now a pro-basketballer playing 12 months of the year," Ettridge said.

"This is his job and if he doesn’t do his job, he doesn’t get paid. Those three guys are going to be out there giving it everything. Then Lewis Thomas and Benny Smith, they add up to a quality organisation. They are doing good things and we look forward to taking them on."

WEEK 1 MEN'S QUARTER FINAL SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers v Bethanie Stirling Senators, Willetton Basketball Stadium 8.30pm

SATURDAY
Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars v Perry Lakes Hawks, Wally Hagan Stadium 7.30pm
Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames v S&K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers, Mike Barnett Sports Complex 7.30pm
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves v Texture WA Perth Redbacks, Joondalup Basketball Stadium 8pm

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Serene-Elise Photography