West Spotlight | Wolves spoil Cougars celebrations

Featured image: Michael Farnell @sportsimageryau

Sometimes the true value of a player is only seen in his absence and once Rowan Mackenzie fouled out for the Cockburn Cougars, the Joondalup Wolves scored the only seven points in the last two minutes to snatch the 90-87 Heritage Round NBL1 West win.

The Cougars were back home at Wally Hagan Stadium on Friday night celebrating their 2016 championship triumph up against the team they beat in that memorable Grand Final at Bendat Basketball Centre a decade ago.

And for a lot of the night Cockburn were on track to remain the hottest team this season with a seventh straight win having built a 15-point lead in the first half and still leading by four with two minutes to play.

However, point guard Mackenzie who has put himself in the MVP discussion during the six-game winning streak then fouled out and the game underwent a remarkable transformation.

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The Wolfpack were able to hound the Cougars into poor shots and turnovers, and took full advantage to score the last seven points with Sharif Black leading the charge for his season-best night with the Wolves winning by three to improve to a 9-3 record to remain in third place.

Sharif Black has had a brilliant first season for the Wolfpack and saved his best for Friday night with finishing with 35 points, nine rebounds and four assists with 13/27 shooting from the field, 2/9 from deep and 7/8 at the foul line while being +14.

Caleb Davis was also +14 for his seven points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals with Damon Ballantyne the other player who was +14 in just 18 minutes for nine points and two rebounds.

CJ Turnage produced another 17 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks, and Taylor Young 10 points, six boards and three assists.

The Cougars will be disappointed to have not made it seven straight wins having been in a winning position but those two minutes did highlight the importance of Mackenzie to them who finished with 14 points, seven assists and six rebounds while being a team-high +8.

Johny Narkle top scored for Cockburn with 23 points, five rebounds, three blocks, two assists and two steals, but he had another mixed night going 8/22 from the field and 2/9 from three-point range with three turnovers.

Joseph Bradshaw dominated the first half but managed just six points in the second on his way to 22 for the game with 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals while going 4/9 from beyond the arc.

Akeem Springs added 14 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists with Nathan Pond contributing seven points, seven boards and two steals.

On a night the Cougars were celebrating their 2016 championship triumph against the same team they beat in the Grand Final of that year, it was Cockburn who started well to be leading 23-17 by the end of the first quarter.

The Cougars then opened up a 15-point lead in the second quarter before the Wolves fired back by going on a 9-0 run and by half-time it was Cockburn still clinging to the 41-35 advantage with Joseph Bradshaw dominating with 16 points and four rebounds.

Sharif Black was keeping Joondalup close with 12 points and seven rebounds but there wasn’t a whole lot separating the two teams who had occupied top five positions coming into the clash.

It was then a high-scoring third quarter with a combined 57 points between the two teams with Joondalup scoring 29 of them and Cockburn 28 with the Cougars still clinging to a 69-64 advantage by three quarter-time.

It was always felt there was going to be another twist to come and that all happened in the final two minutes after Rowan Mackenzie fouled out for Cockburn.

At that point, the Cougars were leading 87-83 but things fell apart without the cool head and ball handling ability of Mackenzie out there and in the final two minutes, Cockburn had four missed shots including from Johny Narkle on the buzzer who was attempting to get the game to overtime.

But the biggest play of the game was when Jordan Wellsteed picked the pocket of Narkle up top inside the last minute which led to a layup for Black to make it a one-point game.

Black then made two free throws on the next possession and from there the Wolfpack held on to win by three on the back of soring the last seven points after Mackenzie fouled out.

The Cougars now head to Kalgoorlie to play the Goldfields Giants next Saturday night with the Wolves hosting the Warwick Senators in a Battle of Joondalup next Friday night.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | HERITAGE ROUND

COCKBURN COUGARS 87 (Narkle 23, Bradshaw 22, Mackenzie 14, Springs 14)

JOONDALUP WOLVES 90 (Black 35, Turnage 17, Young 10)