West Spotlight | Okwera shines and Eagles down Suns

Featured image: @codexdesignstudio, Mark Filpo

David Okwera showed that he's at the peak of his powers right now and delivered a match-winning performance as the East Perth Eagles put in a strong all-round showing to beat the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 104-79.

The Eastern Suns were back home at Ray Owen Sports Centre after last Friday night's stunning buzzer-beating win over the Rockingham Flames while the Eagles were also coming off a big win over the Warwick Senators.

Both teams have started the season in impressive form and were looking to continue that but the Suns were without Joe Cook-Green while the Eagles regained Lat Mayen, and it was a blistering start from the visitors.

East Perth put up 31 points in the first quarter and then were leading 53-42 by half-time with 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 with the Suns now 6-2.

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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.

David Okwera was the star of the show in the big win for the Eagles with the NBL free agent 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. On Saturday night, 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 Lat 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.

The Eastern Suns were right in the game most of the night but in the end the absence of Joe Cook-Green and with Travis Fee playing his first game back and Jordan Simpson working back from injury was tough to overcome against the powerful Eagles.

Joel Vaiangina again started with Simpson just playing his first game back and the 122-game big man finished with 14 points, five rebounds, two steals and two blocks on 6/7 shooting.

Marley Sam had another 13 points, six assists, three steals and two rebounds while Terrandus Smith added 13 points, five boards and two assists, Lewis Thomas 10 points, nine rebounds and five steals, and Jesse Pollock seven points against his former team.

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.

The Eagles now back up on Sunday at midday to play host to the Geraldton Buccaneers while the Eastern Suns will attempt to bounce back next Saturday back on their home floor against their former coach Mark Utley and the Mandurah Magic.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 7

KALAMUNDA EASTERN SUNS 79 (Vaiangina 14, Smith 13, Sam 13)

EAST PERTH EAGLES 104 (Okwera 28, Mayen 16, Rice 12, Antonio 12)