West Spotlight | Turnage leads Wolves to high-scoring win

Featured image: Tyson Lumbaca | @ty.visuales

The teams combined for 242 in 40 minutes in quite the offensive showcase but a combined 85 points from CJ Turnage, Taylor Young and Sharif Black saw the Joondalup Wolves stay hot this NBL1 West season beating the Eastern Suns 124-118.

Both teams were fresh off Friday night wins as well with the Wolves winning at home over the Warwick Senators and the Eastern Suns downing the East Perth Eagles on the road.

It was quite an offensive performance from both teams from the start as they combined for 61 points in the first quarter, 63 in the second, 61 in the third and finally 57 in the fourth.

In the end a 37-point third quarter from the Wolfpack was the difference even though the Eastern Suns kept on fighting and got back within a point late in the piece before the visitors to Ray Owen Sports Centre secured the six-point win.

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Joondalup cored the 124 points while shooting a scintillating 61 per cent from the field and 16/32 from behind the arc along with 22/26 at the foul line as they made it six straight wins to improve to an 11-3 record.

The Eastern Suns did lose to now be 9-4 but still managed 118 points with 52 per cent shooting from the floor, 13/35 from long-range and 13/17 at the free-throw line while having just five turnovers and forcing the Wolves into 15.

The Wolves have now won six straight to be emerging nicely as championship contenders and they put 124 points on the board and seemingly did it with ease with three players scoring 22 points or more, and another four with at least eight points.

CJ Turnage ended up with 22 points in a monster second half for 35 in the game to go with 12 rebounds and eight assists with 14/19 field goal shooting, 4/5 from three-point range and 3/4 at the foul line.

Taylor Young also delivered 28 points and four assists with 4/7 shooting from downtown while Sharif Black had 20 points to half-time ended up with just 22 having only played 20:47 in the finish.

Caleb Davis chimed in with 11 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and two blocks, Gabe Chadinha 11 points on 3/5 three-point shooting, 297-game captain Jordan Wellsteed nine points and five rebounds, and Ben Geel eight points on 4/4 shooting.

It might have been a loss for the Eastern Suns but considering the absence of Travis Fee, Jordan Simpson and Reece Maxwell they can still take a lot out of what they were able to produce.

Joe Cook-Green finished with 34 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Suns on 4/7 three-point shooting and going 13/25 from the field.

Terrandus Smith added 26 points and five steals with 5/13 shooting from behind the three-point line with Marley Sam adding to his resume further with 25 points, seven assists and six rebounds.

Lewis Thomas also had 15 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for Kalamunda with 3/5 three-point shooting.

Both teams came into the Saturday night match up looking to show off their championship credentials having also won the night before with the Wolves beating the Warwick Senators at home and the Suns downing the East Perth Eagles on the road.

They combined for 61 points in the first quarter to set the tone for the rest of the evening with the Wolves scoring 33 of those on 60 per cent shooting with 5/9 from deep with Sharif Black scoring 13 of those points and Gabe Chadinha eight.

The Suns also had 28 points with Joe Cook-Green putting up 12 while they shoot 10/22 from the floor and 3/10 from behind the arc.

The scoring continued in the second term with another 63 combined points and it was Kalamunda this time having the better of things with 34 of those on 12/22 shooting and 5/10 from downtown with Terrandus Smith up to 13 points as was Marley Sam while Cook-Green had 17.

Joondalup still scored 29 more points as well with another 11/17 shooting performance to be going at 62 per cent at half-time with 9/16 from deep with Black having 20 of those points with scores all square at 62-62 going into the locker room.

The Wolfpack then blew the game open in the third quarter with 37 points to 24 to be leading by 13 at three quarter-time on the back of shooting 14/19 for the term with another 6/9 from behind the arc.

CJ Turnage had 11 of those 37 points and Taylor Young eight while Black didn’t add to his 20 but still by three quarter-time it was Joondalup leading 99-86.

The Wolfpack were still leading by 12 with four minutes to go after a three-point play from Turnage, but the Suns weren’t done with yet and Sam started to cause havoc in the back court and turn up the head on Wolves point guard Young.

All of a sudden after forcing a turnover, Cook-Green knocked down the corner three and the Suns were back within one with just under a minute to play and the home team had all the momentum.

However, they wouldn’t score again with Joondalup holding firm to ice the game at the foul line through Young, captain Jordan Wellsteed and 205-game veteran Caleb Davis.

The Wolves will look to keep their winning run going on the road to the Geraldton Buccaneers next Saturday night while the Eastern Suns will attempt to bounce back away to the Perth Redbacks on Friday.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 11

KALAMUNDA EASTERN SUNS 118 (Cook-Green 34, Smith 26, Sam 25)

JOONDALUP WOLVES 124 (Turnage 35, Young 28, Black 22)