West Finals | Flames do enough over Hawks

Featured image: Madeleine Clark | @madeleineclarkmedia

The Perry Lakes Hawks will be left to wonder what might have been this NBL1 West season had Jack Browder played finals but the Rockingham Flames did enough to win 88-75 and advance to a preliminary final against the Cockburn Cougars.

Isaac White won a second straight NBL1 West MVP award in 2026 and deservedly so but his biggest challenger without question was Browder who took the league by storm when he joined the Hawks five games in straight out of college.

So it would have made for quite the battle at Mike Barnett Sports Complex on Thursday night had they gone head-to-head in a semi-final match up, but it wasn’t to be and as a result Rockingham were in control the whole way even while missing Michael Harris themselves.

The Flames had been neck and neck all season battling over top spot with the Geraldton Buccaneers before finishing second at 18-4 and then found themselves up 15 early in the fourth quarter before losing at home last Saturday night to the Joondalup Wolves.

They still had a second chance to host the Hawks in a semi-final with Perry Lakes ending the regular season at 12-10 in seventh spot before a demolition job on the Eastern Suns on the road on Saturday.

They did that without the league's leading scorer Browder who remained unavailable to take on the Flames as he prepares for a fifth college season.

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It was a tight battle through the first quarter with Rockingham leading 19-15 by quarter-time on the back of shooting 8/17 from the field to 6/20 from Perry Lakes.

The Flames then took over further in the second frame completing an 11-0 scoring run and opening up an 18-point advantage on the way to leading 44-26 by half-time.

It was a brilliant defensive performance from the Flames against a Hawks team who averaged 99.1 points through the regular season and scored in double figures in their past six matches and had another 87 to open the finals against Kalamunda.

Rockingham got 17 points from Blake Jones in the first half and just six on 3/11 from MVP White but they did hold the Hawks to 26 points on 26 per cent shooting.

The scoring of both teams picked up significantly in the third quarter with the Flames putting up 32 points and the Hawks 30, but while Perry Lakes more than doubled their half-time score, their deficit only grew.

Perry Lakes did then manage 19 points to 12 in the fourth quarter, but could never get close enough to strike with Rockingham cruising to the 13-point win even if they never really did find the offensive groove they had throughout the regular season.

Rockingham advance to a tantalising preliminary final against the Cockburn Cougars at Wally Hagan Stadium now on Saturday night.

The Flames only shot 49 per cent from the field and 5/21 from downtown but did have 15 offensive rebounds to nine with Blake Jones finishing with 31 points, 13 rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots.

Then following his fascinating battle with Caleb Davis against Joondalup, Laquinton Ross delivered 20 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks on 9/16 field goal shooting.

Tevin Jackson also finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists, Isaac White 11 points, four boards and four assists, and Emmett Naar eight points, 14 assists and seven rebounds.

It was a tough night for Perry Lakes to end their season and not only were they missing Browder, but Cam Huefner only had the 10 points and six rebounds on 4/12 shooting, and Isaiah Moses 15 points and nine assists with 6/17 shooting.

Andreas Grubisa did continue to grab his opportunities with 22 points and 6/11 three-point shooting with Jack Kingswood producing 17 points, and Max Bucknell four points, 12 rebounds and two steals.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | SEMI FINALS

ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 88 (Jones 31, Ross 20, Jackson 12)

PERRY LAKES HAWKS 75 (Grubisa 22, Kingswood 17, Moses 15)