West Spotlight | Flames overcome Giants in OT thriller

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The Rockingham Flames found hot three-point shooting form early that they couldn’t quite maintain and the Goldfields Giants fought bravely to be in a winning position but couldn’t quite complete the job with the Flames winning 110-107 in overtime.

Both teams came into the Sunday clash at Mike Barnett Sports Complex having played on Saturday night with the Flames winning big away to the league-leading Willetton Tigers while the Giants went down by 29 points to start their road double against the Joondalup Wolves.

Rockingham had already knocked down 10 three-pointers by halfway through the second quarter to hold a double figure lead, but when that dried up the Giants were able to not only get back in the game, but be in a winning position.

From that point, the Flames only went 7/37 from behind the arc and with Josh Duach making a huge difference in his first weekend back for the season, Goldfields were impressive the rest of the game.

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Michael Jok hit a huge three in the last two minutes of regulation to put Goldfields up two before Mark Burkholder's free throws for Rockingham got the game to overtime.

Then the Giants again led by just over a minute to play before the Flames scored the last five points to secure the three-point victory and improve to 8-2 as a result to move into top spot.

It was a rollercoaster ride of a performance from the Flames with the hot start to go 8/16 from three in the first quarter and then 2/16 in the second term before finishing up going 17/59 with just 26 of their shot attempts coming inside the arc.

They were without Blake Jones too so were a significantly smaller line-up as well with Isaac White finishing with another 36 points, eight rebounds and six assists with 8/18 three-point shooting.

Michael Harris also ended up with 23 points, five rebounds and three assists, Mark Burkholder 20 points, four boards and two assists, Tevin Jackson 13 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and two steals, and Emmett Naar 10 points, 15 assists and six boards.

Following a tough loss the night before to Joondalup and then falling 15 points down early to Rockingham again the next day, it was a full credit to the Giants for giving themselves a real shot of what would have been a significant upset.

It could have turned their season around too that now sees them sit at 2-7 with the return this weekend of Josh Duach making a significant impact.

He finished with 36 points, nine rebounds and four assists with 15/26 field goal shooting.

Lino Manhom had a hot start with 20 points and 10 rebounds already to half-time and finished the game with 26 pinots, 17 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks.

Sam Vinson added 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists, Michael Jok 10 points, seven boards and five assists, and Jerome Reid 10 points and four rebounds.

The two teams both played the previous night with Rockingham beating the league-leading Willetton while Goldfields lost big up at Joondalup, and it was a fast start at home from the Flames with 33 points to 21 in the first quarter.

That included Rockingham knocking down 8/16 from three-point range in those opening 10 minutes while the Giants missed all six three-point attempts and went at 36 per cent from the floor.

Rockingham got up 15 again in the second period but Goldfields worked back into the contest leading into half-time and had cut the Flames lead to 49-43 by the break.

Lino Manhom was up to 20 points and 10 rebounds already by half-time for the Giants while Isaac White had 15 points for Rockingham with Michael Harris not able to get into the game with just six on 1/5 shooting.

The Giants had warmed to the challenge and managed to make life tougher for Rockingham from downtown and the visitors put up 33 points to 23 in the third quarter.

That saw Goldfields grab the 76-72 lead by three quarter-time with Josh Duach catching fire with 14 points in the third period alone after having eight in the opening half.

That set up a fascinating finish and the game went right down to the wire with White and Michael Jok trading three-pointers in the last two minutes of regulation.

It was Mark Burkholder who stepped up for two free throws for Rockingham to send the game to overtime before Goldfields scored six straight points late in the extra period to go up two.

They were still up by that margin with 20 seconds to go before a tough three-point play from Tevin Jackson had the Flames back on top before Harris sealed the eventual win at the foul line.

The Flames remain at home to host the Warwick Senators on Saturday night in a rematch of last year's preliminary final while the Giants return home to take on the Kalamunda Eastern Suns.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 8

ROCKINGHAM FLAMES 110 (White 36, Harris 23, Burkholder 20)

GOLDFIELDS GIANTS 107 (Duach 36, Manhom 26, Vinson 16)