West Spotlight | Eagles do it again at Joondalup

Featured image: Tiarna | @tiarnarosephoto 

Back at the same venue they won a first finals game last year in a decade, the East Perth Eagles handed the Joondalup Wolves a first loss of 2026 with their NBL trio of Jonah Antonio, Lat Mayen and David Okwera proving unstoppable.

For whatever motivation you wanted to look at it as a fascinating game whether it was the Wolves trying to stay unbeaten, the Eagles looking for a third straight win or that it was a rematch from last year's finals when East Perth beat the Wolfpack also at Arena Joondalup to end their season and win a first final since 2014, then there was no shortage of it.

Throw in that former Eagles captain Taylor Young was playing against his old team with the Wolves for the first time and it was always going to be an intriguing match up.

And it did prove to be, but the Eagles maintained a degree of control most of the way to end up winning by eight points with their NBL26 trio of Mayen, Antonio and Okwera combining for 56 points, 27 rebounds, 12 assists, eight steals and five blocked shots.

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That trio proved the major difference and the Eagles were able to win despite 24 turnovers and going 5/21 from three-point range by ending up shooting 48 per cent from the field and going 25/30 at the free-throw line for a third straight win.

NBL free agent Okwera finished with 21 points, seven rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks while fresh off asking for a release from the Perth Wildcats to explore other opportunities, Mayen put up 18 points, 13 rebounds and two steals with 7/11 shooting.

Antonio also showed that he can do a bit of everything ending up with 17 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals with Max Rice contributing 11 points, six boards and four assists, and former Wolf Ioannis Dimakopoulos 11 points.

New import Steve Weingarten made a 1:22 cameo too less than 72 hours after landing in Australia and showed encouraging enough signs scoring a bucket inside.

The Wolves did pull down 20 offensive rebounds and attempted 22 more shots than the Eagles, but only managed to shoot 35 per cent for the game including 5/37 from behind the arc to now also be 3-1 on the season.

Sharif Black is playing his first NBL1 West season having originally come to Australia to play Big V Division 2 before moving up to State Championships of the Big V, and then playing in the NBL1 Central the past two seasons.

He has been in blistering form to start life with the Wolves and kept that going despite the result with another 30 points, eight rebounds, four steals and two assists including going 7/10 at the foul line despite 1/10 from three-point territory.

CJ Turnage also finished with 15 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals, Caleb Davis 14 points, seven boards and two assists, Taylor Young 10 points, five rebounds and five assists against the team he was captain of last season, and Ben Geel seven points, four boards and three steals.

It had all the hallmarks for so many reasons as one of the games of the season already coming into it. The first quarter did nothing to change that with the Eagles scoring nine straight points early in response to the Wolves starting off 4-0.

Jonah Antonio and Lat Mayen then helped East Perth to the 16-7 advantage. The Eagles were still on top 27-21 by the end of one on the back of 21 of those points coming from Mayen, Antonio and David Okwera.

The Eagles shot a scorching 71 per cent in the quarter and didn’t miss inside the arc while the Wolves went just at 38 per cent and 2/11 from behind the three-point line despite the 10 points from CJ Turnage.

East Perth then surged out to a 15-point advantage in the second term and that was still the lead going into half-time again.

The Eagles were still shooting 53 per cent from the field to 30 from the Wolfpack and still could scarcely miss inside the three-point arc going 16/23.

Things kicked up a gear in the third quarter and Joondalup scored nine straight points to get the home crowd behind them with Sharif Black catching fire. By three quarter-time, he and fellow Detroit-local Turnage had 34 of the Wolves' 62 points.

The Eagles were able to take back control in the final term and got back out to a 15-point lead on the way to the eventual eight-point victory as they held out a Wolfpack team that did keep coming desperate to avoid a first defeat of 2026 against the same team that ended their 2025.

It's the lone game of the weekend for both teams as well with the Wolves now back in action on Anzac Day in a Battle of Joondalup away to the Warwick Senators while the Eagles host the Perry Lakes Hawks also next Saturday.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 4

JOONDALUP WOLVES 86 (Black 30, Turnage 15, Davis 14)

EAST PERTH EAGLES 94 (Okwera 21, Mayen 18, Antonio 17)