West Spotlight | Cherry inspires Tigers to gritty win

Featured image: @jeff.s.smith

The Willetton Tigers had plenty working against them including conceding 17 straight points to the Lakeside Lightning in the fourth quarter and a scary incident involving Bryce Johnson, but Taeshon Cherry starred in their eventual 95-89 victory.

Willetton arrived at Lakeside Recreation Centre having lost their past three matches and needing to bounce back while the Lightning were also banging on the door of the top eight so it was a crucial match up as well for the home team.

It turned out to be quite the dramatic affair with the Tigers taking over in the third quarter with 31 points to 16 including 10 of those scored by Cherry but then the Lightning went on a stunning 17-0 scoring run to draw level with four minutes to go.

Cherry answered with a huge three for Willetton before there was then a significant delay to the game when Johnson was hurt when going up for a defensive rebound with 2:13 remaining. He took some heavy contact from behind and fell heavily, and ended up being taken to hospital.

Following that lengthy delay, Willetton responded well to end up securing the six-point win to steady their season with a 10-6 record while the Lightning remain outside the top eight at 7-11.

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It was a gutsy win from Willetton as they not only ended their three-game winning run, but also had to deal with seeing what happened with one of their teammates late in the game, and then also had to withstand those 17 straight points from Lakeside in the fourth quarter.

It was a crucial result in the context of the season as well for the Tigers to avoid a fourth straight defeat as they ended up shooting 56 per cent from the field to 44 from Lakeside despite the Lightning going 10/27 from downtown to 4/20.

Lakeside also pulled down the 18 offensive rebounds to 12 including 15 in the first half with 11 of those from Josh Davey, but Willetton's efficient offensive display saw them confirm the important win.

Taeshon Cherry came up huge for Willetton with another 31 points, five rebounds and two steals with 14/23 field goal shooting and the Tigers were +11 with him out there.

Damien Scott also had 17 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals in his 391st game with Tom Gerovich returning with 12 points, four boards and three assists in his first game since May 2.

Before his unfortunate incident, Johnson had 10 points, seven assists and four rebounds for the Tigers with Michael Vigor providing 10 points and six boards in game No. 339.

Michael Imariagbe had 21 points in the first half for Lakeside and finished with 28 to go with six rebounds and five assists while Josh Davey ended up with six points, 18 rebounds and five assists with 12 of those boards coming at the offensive end.

Isaiah Lewis added 20 points, five rebounds and five assists, Liam Patterson 12 points and three assists, and Yahui Sun 11 points and three assists with 3/5 three-point shooting.

Both teams came into the Friday night match up needing a win with Willetton dropping from the top four having lost three straight and Lakeside still on the outside of the top eight coming into Round 14.

It was a tight affair in the first quarter with Willetton narrowly leading 23-21 by quarter-time but Lakeside put up 29 to 26 in the second to go into the half-time break with the 50-49 slender advantage.

That was on the back of a monster performance on the offensive glass from the irrepressible Josh Davey. He had 14 rebounds to half-time and 11 of those were at the offensive end with his team having 15 of them to get two more shot attempts and nine extra free throws than Willetton.

Michael Imariagbe also had 21 points for the Lightning to half-time while the Tigers were shooting well going 56 per cent from the field with Damien Scott up to 12 points and Taeshon Cherry 10.

Willetton then took over with a massive third quarter putting up 31 points on the back of shooting 13/19 from the field and limiting Davey to just one more offensive rebounds with the Lightning only managing 16 points on 6/14 shooting while having six turnovers.

That saw the Tigers lead 80-66 going into three quarter-time and the lead did get out to 17 in the fourth but Lakeside made a stunning run of scoring 17 straight points with Isaiah Lewis and Tyson Kelly hitting triples as part of that.

Suddenly scores were all level with four minutes to play when Lewis scored going to the basket and the home team had all the momentum, but Cherry then responded with a massive three for the Tigers.

Willetton were then leading 87-83 with 2:13 to play when the game had the significant delay with the scary incident involving Bryce Johnson as he went up to collect a defensive rebound.

All the right care was provided and precautions taken to look after him and eventually have him taken to hospital by ambulance, and when the game resumed the Tigers scored the first four points including another bucket to Cherry as they went on to complete the important six-point win.

Willetton now will try to keep the momentum going now in a massive game next Friday night at home to the Joondalup Wolves while Lakeside have until Saturday night when they play host to the visiting Goldfields Giants.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 14

LAKESIDE LIGHTNING 89 (Imariagbe 28, Lewis 10, Patterson 12)

WILLETTON TIGERS 95 (Cherry 31, Scott 17, Gerovich 12)