West Spotlight | Tigers guns deliver against Eagles

Featured image: mvalz | mason anderson

New arrival Bryce Johnson teamed with Taeshon Cherry, Damien Scott, Michael Vigor and Tom Gerovich to lead the Willetton Tigers to an NBL1 West season opening 96-82 win over David Okwera and the East Perth Eagles.

Both teams were playing their first games of the new season and having both made finals runs they are looking to build on from 2025.

After a heartbreaking grand final loss in 2024, Willetton also lost in similarly devastating fashion in a home preliminary final last year to the Geraldton Buccaneers while East Perth won a first final since 2014 before losing a week later to the Rockingham Flames.

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Willetton had opened up a 12-point lead by the end of the first quarter before East Perth closed the gap with momentum going into half-time only for the Tigers to open up the second half with a 15-2 run to set up the eventual 14-point victory.

New import Bryce Johnson was a handful for East Perth and delivered 19 points, six assists, four rebounds and two steals for Willetton with 10/11 free-throw shooting.

Then there was the usual sources of strong contributors for Willetton to lead to the win with Taeshon Cherry providing 16 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals, and Michael Vigor 16 points and four boards.

Damien Scott also had 15 points, six assists, five rebounds and two steals in his 376th game while Tom Gerovich contributed 12 points, 10 rebounds and three assists, and Tom Musumeci five points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Coming off the best season of his NBL career with the Perth Wildcats, David Okwera kept that form going with East Perth by putting up 25 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and five blocks on 11/20 shooting from the floor.

Max Rice had 18 points to half-time and finished with 22 with five assists and four rebounds with 2/8 three-point shooting.

One new face for the Eagles in 2026 is former Boise State guard Bing Huang and he had 14 points, four rebounds and two steals with 5/7 shooting from the field and 4/6 at the free-throw line.

Nick Filpo also had six points, six rebounds and six assists, and Lee Roberts six points and five rebounds, but Jonah Antonio struggled with four points, three boards and two steals on 2/8 shooting in 28 minutes.

Willetton finished the first quarter impressively and went on a 10-0 run on the way to a 12-point quarter-time advantage with new import Bryce Johnson already having eight points to his name while making all six free-throw attempts.

The Tigers opened up a 15-point lead early in the second quarter as well but the Eagles then picked up some momentum heading towards half-time including scoring eight straight points.

Max Rice had 18 points to the half and David Okwera added 10, but still Willetton were leading 48-43 in a half of basketball where there were 29 free throws put up.

East Perth might have had the momentum going into half-time, but Willetton quickly took charge again to start the third quarter racing out to a 15-2 run including the first five quick points from Johnson.

Michael Vigor and Damien Scott capped off that run with three balls to push the lead out to 18 and soon after Taeshon Cherry hit in the corner to make it 19, and still by three quarter-time the Tigers were up by 12.

Willetton was able to complete the job with another 20 points to 18 in the final period as well to start their season with the 14-point home win.

The Tigers are now on the road to the Cockburn Cougars on Thursday night ahead of the Easter long weekend while the Eagles are at home for the first time in 2026 on Saturday night hosting the Mandurah Magic.

The other two Saturday night men's NBL1 West results saw the Joondalup Wolves beat the Lakeside Lightning 109-82 while the South West Slammers hit the road and won 78-74 over the Goldfields Giants.

NBL WEST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 1

WILLETTON TIGERS 96 (Johnson 19, Cherry 16, Vigor 16)

EAST PERTH EAGLES 82 (Okwera 25, Rice 22, Huang 14)