West Wrap | Men's Round 2

Featured image: Tyson Lumbaca | @ty.visuales

Josh Davey wrapped up Easter Round in the NBL1 West with a stunning game winner for the Lakeside Lightning after Sharif Black shone for Joondalup Wolves as did David Okwera for East Perth Eagles and Taeshon Cherry for Willetton Tigers.

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THURSDAY

South West Slammers (77) lost to Perth Redbacks (89)

Nick Floyd and Sean Conway combined for 47 points with the Perth Redbacks scoring a first win of the season beating the South West Slammers 89-77.

The Slammers were home at Eaton Recreation Centre attempting to back up last week's stirring road win over the Goldfields Giants with the Redbacks trying to hit back from a loss at home to the Cockburn Cougars under new coach Luke Sunderland.

It was a close contest through three quarters but the Redbacks asserted their control in the fourth with 32 points to 18 to secure the 12-point victory heading into Easter.

Floyd produced 24 points and nine rebounds in the win for the Redbacks with Conway providing 23 points and six boards, Luke Phillips 15 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, and Isaac Etter 10 points and three assists.

Philmon Gebrhiwet finished with 22 points and six rebounds for the Slammers with Jhaylon Martinez adding 14 points and nine boards, and Devan Craig 19 points with 3/5 three-point shooting.

Kalamunda Eastern Suns (98) defeated Warwick Senators (92)

The Eastern Suns withstood 71 points from Marshawn Blackmon and Billy McRae to stay undefeated this season and celebrate Seb Salinas' 550th milestone with 98-92 win over the Warwick Senators.

Kalamunda were back home at Ray Owen Sports Centre looking to back up last week's first up win against the Lakeside Lightning as they hosted the grand finalists from last year still without a string of key players.

The Eastern Suns went on to build a 20-point lead and then despite the Senators getting back within five in the final quarter, their coach Andrew Cooper found himself tossed for two super quick technical fouls and the home team from there secured the six-point win to go 2-0.

It was a night to celebrate the career of Salinas in game 550 against the team he started his SBL career with in 2003, but what he did show is what a contribution he can still make to winning.

He delivered 13 points and two assists with 3/5 three-point shooting in 20 minutes.

Terrandus Smith has fit right in with the Eastern Suns after joining Cockburn in 2025. He put up 24 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Joe Cook-Green added 14 points and three assists, Jordan Simpson 13 points, seven rebounds, two steals and two blocks, Marley Sam 12 points, eight assists and four steals, Jesse Pollock nine points on 3/4 three-point shooting, and captain Lewis Thomas five points, six rebounds and four assists.

It's a Senators team still awaiting the availability of Ben Henshall, Keegan Phillips and Cody Ellis, and a potential second import, but Marshawn Blackmon and Billy McRae couldn't have done any more.

McRae has moved to Warwick from Perry Lakes with the young guard looking for more opportunities. He's embracing those and had a career night with 31 points, five rebounds and two assists on 12/16 shooting despite the five turnovers.

Blackmon played all 40 minutes of the game and was brilliant to almost single-handedly give the Senators a chance with 40 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals with 13/27 field goal shooting and 12/14 at the foul line.

Tyler Shand also finished with nine points, 12 rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block.

Cockburn Cougars (82) lost to Willetton Tigers (91)

Taeshon Cherry is picking right back up where he left off in 2025 with the Willetton Tigers leading them to the 91-82 road win over the Cockburn Cougars.

Cherry had a standout first season with Willetton in 2025 making the All-First Team with the Tigers only just falling short in a home preliminary final and they started 2026 strongly with a Saturday home win over the East Perth Eagles.

Cockburn also started well on the road beating the Perth Redbacks ahead of hosting the Tigers at Wally Hagan Stadium, but Willetton opened up a five-point quarter-time lead and were on top the rest of the way.

That lead got out to as much 12 points in the second half with the Tigers securing the nine-point win with Cherry starring with 24 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Fellow import Bryce Johnson also had 15 points with 7/10 foul shooting while Damien Scott added 18 points, six rebounds and five assists, Tom Gerovich 13 points and eight boards, and Michael Vigor 10 points and three rebounds.

Cockburn are still awaiting the availability of Johny Narkle and Rowan Mackenzie with new import Joseph Bradshaw strong again with 23 points, 12 rebounds and four steals.

Nathan Pond added 12 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals, Matt Clifford nine points, and Josh Hunt seven points and four rebounds.

Perry Lakes Hawks (78) lost to Joondalup Wolves (106)

Sharif Black has wasted no time lighting up the NBL1 West over his first two appearances with the Joondalup Wolves and again was dazzling in the 106-78 road win over the Joondalup Wolves.

The new import guard was mighty impressive first up for the Wolfpack in the opening round win against the Lakeside Lightning ahead of taking on the Hawks at Bendat Basketball Centre.

Perry Lakes did start well in their home opener even with Perth Wildcats point guard Jaron Rillie not yet available to be leading 26-22 after one, but Black and the Wolves then took charge with 32 points to 17 in the second term.

Joondalup then completed the job with 30 points to 11 in the fourth quarter to win by 28 with Black delivering 33 points, six rebounds and four steals with 12/20 shooting from the floor, 5/10 from three-point range and 3/5 at the line.

CJ Turnage added 23 points, four rebounds and three assists, Caleb Davis 19 points, six boards and two steals, Jordan Wellsteed nine points and nine rebounds, and Taylor Young eight points, four assists, three boards and two steals.

Cameron Huefner again wasn’t shy in getting up the shots for Perry Lakes but only went 5/20 with 2/13 from deep although he did make all nine free-throw attempts for 21 points, eight rebounds and three assists.

Andreas Grubisa was into the line-up and was impressive with 26 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals while Aluth John contributed eight points and five rebounds with 2/3 three-point shooting.

SATURDAY

East Perth Eagles (113) defeated Mandurah Magic (98)

David Okwera fired for 16 third quarter points and combined with Perth Wildcats NBL teammate Lat Mayen for 52 as East Perth Eagles overcame 59 from Jock Perry and Lachlan Bertram to beat the Mandurah Magic 113-98.

Both teams made hot starts with 64 points between them in the first quarter with Okwera, Mayen, Perry and Bertram scoring 49 of those.

In the end, it was a 42-point third quarter from East Perth that was the difference as they opened up a 20-point fourth quarter lead and managed to convert it into the eventual 15-point win.

Okwera finished the night with 33 points, 11 rebounds, eight assists, two steals and two blocks on a supremely efficient 12/13 shooting from the field, 2/2 from three-point range and 7/9 at the foul line.

His NBL26 Wildcats teammate Mayen was playing his first game in the NBL1 West as well after leading the West Adelaide Bearcats to an NBL1 Central championship in 2025. He had 19 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two blocks first up in 30 minutes.

Lee Roberts also had 14 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals for East Perth, Max Rice 13 points, four assists and three boards, Nick Filpo 15 points and six assists, and Bing Huang 11 points and three assists.

While the Magic await the arrival of Matt Kenyon and Michael Dupree, Lachlan Bertram and Jock Perry are holding down the fort and they did all they could to give their team a chance on Saturday night.

After his 29 points on 28 shots last week against Rockingham, Bertram finished with 32 points, seven assists, five rebounds and two steals this time around while shooting 10/19 from the floor, 3/10 from deep and 9/10 at the stripe.

Perry also ended up with 27 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block in his second game with Mandurah.

Rockingham Flames (93) lost to Lakeside Lightning (95)

The last game of the round for Easter was provided the first buzzer-beater of 2026 with Josh Davey the last gasp hero for the Lakeside Lightning knocking down the three ball to sink the Rockingham Flames 95-93.

The Flames are still awaiting the arrival of Isaac White and Michael Harris while the Lightning were without an import too after a hamstring injury last week to Isaiah Lewis, but the two teams put on quite the show at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

At no point on the night did more than eight points separate the two teams and it was destined to head down to the wire with Rockingham clinging to the one-point lead in the final two minutes after a free-throw from Ryan Godfrey.

Things got dramatic and tense from there including an offensive foul call on Travis Durnin for Rockingham and then Blake Jones also missed the chance at a put back on an offensive rebound in his home debut for the Flames.

That gave Lakeside one last possession for the win and even with a couple of fumbles and a broken play, the ball got to an open Davey out on the wing and his shot was nothing but net that he took right in front of Rockingham coach Ryan Petrik.

It was quite the way to wrap up the round with Davey finishing with 19 points, six rebounds and two assists on top of that stunning winning three ball.

Liam Patterson added 23 points, six rebounds and three assists, Tim Hollick 12 points and three steals, Michael Garbellini 12 points and four rebounds, and Matt Teale 10 points and four boards.

Blake Jones had 25 points and 10 rebounds for Rockingham with Emmett Naar delivering 20 points and 14 assists, Mark Burkholder 15 points and six boards, and Ryan Godfrey 14 points and six assists.