West Spotlight | Young, Wolves send a message

Featured image: @jeff.s.smith

Taylor Young had his best performance in Joondalup Wolves colours ahead of his NBL1 West return to his old home floor with his team sending a message with an emphatic 118-96 home win over the Willetton Tigers.

The Wolves were back home at Arena Joondalup looking to back up a 29-point win over the Goldfields Giants and make a good start to a crucial double header this weekend while the Tigers were coming off their first two losses of 2026 after starting 8-0.

Willetton then started well for an early 11-point lead but the Wolves were back within two by quarter-time and then took charge with 68 points to 43 over the next two quarters.

That put Joondalup on the path to the eventual 22-point victory to improve to a 7-3 record while Willetton have now lost three straight to be 8-3.

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It was a supremely impressive all-round display from the Wolfpack as they shot 61 per cent as a team with 11/24 from three-point territory and had 23 assists to 16 turnovers with six players scoring in double figures.

That included Ben Geel in his 100th appearance finishing with 14 points and three rebounds on 6/7 field goal shooting.

It was Taylor Young who top scored, though, with the veteran point guard delivering 23 points and four assists on 9/11 shooting as he now prepares to return to his old home floor against an East Perth team he was captain of to start the 2025 season on Saturday night.

Sharif Black also produced 22 points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists for Joondalup, CJ Turnage 18 points, four assists and four steals, Gabe Chadinha 16 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals, and 201-gamer Caleb Davis 12 points and three assists with 3/6 three-point shooting.

It was a tough night after a hot start for Willetton as they slipped to a third straight defeat even on a night where they shot 51 per cent from the field and had 25 free-throw attempts, but 19 turnovers proved costly and they had no answers for an on-fire opponent.

Taeshon Cherry did have a good enough start for Willetton with six points in the first quarter and nine to half-time, but he only 12 for the game by the end on 4/13 shooting with five turnovers.

Damien Scott did top score for the Tigers in his 386th game with 16 points, four rebounds and four assists with Aaron Gashaw going 8/9 at the foul line for 14 points and four rebounds while Tom Musumeci contributed 10 points, and Channing Olowoyo 11 with four steals.

Two teams wanting to be part of the title hunt in 2026 locked horns at Arena Joondalup and it didn’t take long for the visiting Willetton to race out to an 11-point lead trying to make up for their first two losses of the season in the last two games.

But the Wolves fired back with a 9-0 run and that cut the Tigers lead back to 26-24 at the end of the first quarter with their slender advantage largely thanks to 11 free-throw attempts to four.

It was in the second term when Joondalup made their move by piling on 37 points on the back on the back of 14/18 shooting from the field, 2/4 from downtown and 7/12 from the foul line.

That saw the Wolfpack in control at half-time 61-47 with the Tigers having only managed 21 points in the second term on 8/16 shooting and just three more free-throw attempts and having seven turnovers.

It was another 31 points to the Wolves during the third quarter with the lead growing to as much as 26 points, and the lead grew to 27 in the last term before they settled on the statement 22-point victory to hand Willetton a third straight defeat.

The Wolves now back up on Saturday night with a chance for another statement performance away to the East Perth Eagles with the Tigers not playing again until hosting the Goldfields Giants next Sunday.

NBL1 WEST 2026 SEASON | ROUND 9

JOONDALUP WOLVES 118 (Young 23, Black 22, Turnage 18)

WILLETTON TIGERS 96 (Scott 16, Gashaw 14, Cherry 12)