THE Willetton Tigers beat the East Perth Eagles in a thriller, the Joondalup Wolves handed the Perth Redbacks their first Men's SBL loss of 2017 with the Perry Lakes Hawks, Cockburn Cougars, South West Slammers and Kalamunda Eastern Suns also winning on Thursday night.

All six Week 5 matches took place on Easter Thursday and the result was some outstanding Men's SBL contests including a nail-biter at Willetton Basketball Stadium with the Willetton Tigers beating the East Perth Eagles 83-82.

The Joondalup Wolves also handed the Perth Redbacks their first defeat of 2017 winning 90-83 while the Kalamunda Eastern Suns made it three straight beating the Stirling Senators 98-92.

The Perry Lakes Hawks defeated the Lakeside Lightning 107-87, the Cockburn Cougars defeated the Mandurah Magic 100-85 and the South West Slammers got on the board in 2017 beating the Rockingham Flames 74-65.

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The Hawks improved to a 3-2 record on the season under new coach Matt Parsons with a 20-point victory over the Lightning at Bendat Basketball Centre.

Matthew Adekponya starred for Perry Lakes in his second game for the club with 24 points, six assists and five rebounds hitting 8-of-16 from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point territory.

Robert Waters added 16 points, four rebounds and three assists for the Hawks while Brian Carlwell finished with 15 points, 11 boards and three blocks, Ben Purser 11 points, five boards and five assists, and Ryan Smith 11 points and four rebounds.

There was plenty more contributors for Perry Lakes with Rob Cassir adding eight points, Mitch Clarke eight points and Jackson Simkovic seven points and four rebounds.

Devon Atkinson top-scored for Lakeside with 17 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals.

James Padgett added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Lightning, Daniel Grida 15 points and five boards, Corey Shervill 15 points and nine rebounds, and Matt Vinci nine points.

The Wolfpack and Redbacks had just one loss between them over the opening four rounds so something had to give at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

It was the home team who prevailed with the Wolfpack winning by seven points to hand Shawn Redhage and the Redbacks their first loss of 2017.

Trian Iliadis came up big for the Wolves finishing the night with 24 points, four assists, four steals and three rebounds on the back of hitting 4-of-8 from downtown.

Seb Salinas added 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists for Joondalup, Rob Huntington 15 points and seven boards, and Richard Ross 11 points and six rebounds.

Despite the loss, Redhage finished with 27 points and 18 rebounds for Perth with Geordie Murray standing up for 18 points on the back of nailing 6-of-10 from beyond the three-point arc.

Ben Smith also had 16 points, six rebounds and three assists for the Redbacks, Joel Wagner 11 points and Diing Mawein seven points, five rebounds and three steals.

The Slammers opened their account for 2017 under new coach Charles Nix with a low-scoring nine-point victory over the Flames at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

After four straight losses to open the season, it didn’t matter how the Slammers got the win, the important thing was they got on board and will now look to build on that.

The Eastern Suns returned home to take on the Senators at Ray Owen Sports Centre on the back of their first two wins of the season the previous weekend.

The Suns continued their winning ways to record a third straight victory defeating the Senators by six points.

Courtney Belger and Kerrod Horn were once again the stars for Kalamunda and the impact the pair have made has been immeasurable so far. Belger finished the night with 22 points, seven assists, four steals and four rebounds with Horn scoring 18 points.

Ryan Blanchett also had 16 points and nine rebounds for the Eastern Suns, Brighton Pass 13 points and Jono Diaz nine points, six boards, five assists and five steals.

Cody Ellis tried to lift the Senators to their third win of the season with 23 points and eight rebounds.

Austin Bruton finished with 20 points and seven assists for Stirling on the back of hitting 4-of-6 of his three-point attempts and a perfect 8-of-8 at the free-throw line.

Rhys Vague added 18 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists for the Senators while Ash Litterick had 14 points and 14 rebounds.

The Cougars returned to Wally Hagan Stadium to celebrate the 200th SBL game of Steven Van Lit with a 15-point victory over the still winless Magic.

Jalen Billings came up big for the Cougars again to inspire the win with 32 points, 12 rebounds, three blocked shots and two assists on the back of shooting 15-of-21 from the floor.

Lochlan Cummings added 21 points and seven assists for Cockburn while Gavin Field had 12 points, eight boards and seven assists, Rhett Della 11 points and seven rebounds, and Van Lit nine points and three boards on the night he celebrated his 200th appearance.

Taylor Mullenax battled hard to try and get Mandurah its first win of the season with 24 points. Will McNeill added 19 points and six rebounds, and Ricky Kreklow 15 points and 11 boards.

The Tigers and Eagles both entered their clash at Willetton Basketball Stadium in some outstanding form setting up what shaped as the contest of the night, and it didn’t fail to deliver.

It went right down to the wire even after Willetton looked on top leading by seven points with three minutes left after a Ray Turner basket.

Five quick points to East Perth from Mason Bragg and then Corey Easley made it a two-point game with 1:30 left before a massive triple from Bragg gave the Eagles the two-point edge with just under a minute left.

However, a Jay Bowie lay up with 13 seconds left saw the Tigers lead again by a point and then Bragg missed his buzzer-beater for the game with Willetton holding on for the one-point win.

The Tigers improve to 5-1 as a result on the back of 20 points and eight rebounds from Turner.

Bowie added 19 points, seven boards, five steals and three assists for Willetton, Damien Scott 17 points, five boards and five assists, and Lachie Evans 12 points and five rebounds.

Kevin Davis continued his tremendous form for East Perth with another 23 points, 17 rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocked shots.

Bragg also had 17 points and eight assists for the Eagles, Easley 13 points and eight rebounds, Kevin Anthony 10 points and Drew Williamson 10 points and three assists.

THURSDAY NIGHT ROUND 5 MEN'S SBL RESULTS
Willetton Tigers 83 defeated East Perth Eagles 82
Perry Lakes Hawks 107 defeated Lakeside Lightning 87
Cockburn Cougars 100 defeated Mandurah Magic 85
Joondalup Wolves 90 defeated Perth Redbacks 83
Rockingham Flames 65 defeated South West Slammers 74
Kalamunda Eastern Suns 98 defeated Stirling Senators 92

Photo by Vikki Hile