Eagles Recap | Men Round 7

eatured image: @codexdesignstudio, Mark Filpo

The East Perth Eagles put in a tremendous effort on the road on Saturday night to beat the Eastern Suns but couldn’t quite back it up in Sunday NBL1 West action with a loss at home to the Geraldton Buccaneers.

It was always going to be a fascinating double for the Eagles against a team that had lost only once this season and then another who are the reigning champs and fresh off handing Willetton a first loss of 2026 the night before.

It started well for East Perth with the 104-79 win away to the Eastern Suns on Saturday night but the Buccaneers then beat the Eagles at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre on Sunday 102-74 leaving them now with a 5-3 record after seven rounds.

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SATURDAY

It was a big test for the East Perth Eagles heading to Ray Owen Sports Centre on Saturday night against the vastly improved Eastern Suns and with 28 points from David Okwera, they came away with the impressive 104-79 victory.

The Eagles went into the match up fresh off beating the Warwick Senators at home last Friday night by 22 points but the Suns came into the clash on their home floor on Saturday having lost just once so far and coming off beating the Flames in Rockingham.

East Perth put up 31 points in the first quarter and then were leading 53-42 by half-time with Lat Mayen and Okwera combining for 22 points and six three-pointers.

The Eagles then saw off the challenge of the Eastern Suns with 30 points in the fourth quarter on the way to the 25-point win to improve to 5-2 on the season.

East Perth ended the night shooting 55 per cent from the floor to the 41 from Kalamunda while going 16/30 from beyond the arc to 4/28 as they were able to overcome 24 turnovers with their hot shooting display.

Okwera was the star of the show in the big win for the Eagles showing that he is at the peak of his powers and ready for a big role wherever he continues his career at the top level.

That's down the track though. He finished with 28 points, eight rebounds, six assists and four blocks on 11/15 shooting from the field and 3/4 from three-point territory.

It was far from a one man show for East Perth, though, with Mayen also delivering 16 points, nine rebounds and five assists with 3/4 three-point shooting.

Max Rice also had 12 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals while hitting 4/8 from deep with Jonah Antonio going 2/3 for 12 points, five rebounds and three steals with Jermaine Malie back on his old home floor and having 11 points and a steal.

Nick Filpo also ended up with eight points, three assists and two rebounds, Bing Huang seven points and three boards, Ioannis Dimakopoulos four points and three rebounds, Kai Kabugua three points and two steals, and captain Lee Roberts three points and a rebound.

Both teams have had strong starts to the season combining for a 10-3 record coming into the Saturday night match up and the Eagles caught fire in the first quarter to put up 31 points on the back of shooting 7/13 from behind the three-point arc.

David Okwera and Max Rice made two of those each to combine for 14 points by quarter-time with the Eagles leading 31-21 with the Eastern Suns managing only shoot 39 per cent and 2/12 from downtown despite the nine points already from 17-year-old sensation Marley Sam.

Kalamunda did work back into the contest in the third quarter with 23 points to 21 and the Suns shot 8/14 for the quarter while going 7/9 at the foul line to cut the East Perth lead to nine by three quarter-time despite another seven points from Okwera.

The Eagles then had too much left in the tank in the final term by putting up 30 points on 11/16 shooting overall and another 2/5 from downtown on the way to the thumping 25-point win to start their big weekend double in style.

SUNDAY

The Eagles returned home to host the Geraldton Buccaneers on Sunday and did start well to be leading 16-9 early but the reigning champions soon took over on the way to the 102-74 win.

The Eagles deserved to be feeling good about things coming back to Morley Sport and Recreation Centre on Sunday on the back of the wins against the Warwick Senators and Eastern Suns.

They were then leading the Buccaneers 16-9 in the opening minutes, but after a timeout Geraldton worked on top to be leading by four at quarter-time, by 27 at half-time and then going on to score the 28-point win to leave East Perth at 5-3 following seven rounds.

Lat Mayen ended up top-scoring with 18 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two steals for East Perth with David Okwera adding 16 points and five assists but the pair only managed to shoot 11/33 from the field.

Jonah Antonio was the only other Eagles player to reach double-figures for 11 points and five rebounds with Max Rice ending up with nine points on 3/4 three-point shooting but he didn’t get up another attempt the entire second half.

Kai Kabugua also had five points and a block for the Eagles, Nick Filpo six points, six rebounds and three assists, Bing Huang three points, two rebounds and an assist, Ioannis Dimakopoulos four points and a rebound, and captain Lee Roberts two points and a rebounds.

Cooper Creek finished with 32 points and 14 rebounds in the win for Geraldton with Josh Keyes adding 28 points, 10 rebounds and five assists, and Liam Hunt 17 points, 12 boards and four assists.

Both teams were fresh off playing the night before and winning with Geraldton putting three-time championship winner and former captain Mat Wundenberg into the starting line-up to honour his 550th game.

He was only out there for 26 seconds having come into the weekend sore already and then East Perth got going early with a seven-point lead to be up 16-9 leading to a Dayle Joseph timeout.

The Buccs responded to the talk from their three-time championship winning coach and went on a 9-0 run and ended up leading 27-23 by quarter-time with Cooper Creek and Matthew Norman combining for 18 of those points.

The Buccaneers then blew the game wide open in the second quarter by piling on 34 points on the back of shooting 9/17 from the field with 4/9 from downtown and then going 12/13 at the foul line.

East Perth managed just 11 points opposed to that on 4/18 shooting and that saw Geraldton go into half-time in control 61-34 with Creek up to 17 points with Josh Keyes having 16 and Liam Hunt already a double double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

 That lead got out to 29 points in the third quarter for the Buccaneers but East Perth did attempt to mount a fight back and put up 28 themselves leading into three quarter-time with Lat Mayen and David Okwera doing their best to lift their side.

That had the deficit back to 17 at three quarter-time but the Buccs weren’t to be denied and finished off with 23 points to 12 in the final stanza to complete the 28-point victory and make it a perfect double on the road with the two wins to celebrate the 550-game milestone of Wundenberg.