Stirling rise in tight SBL finish

JACOB KAGI reviews the final round of the SBL season

The Stirling Senators were the biggest winners from one of the most dramatic final days to the regular season in men's State Basketball League history, but the story wasn't so good for defending champions Willetton Tigers.

The Senators looked set to face a daunting best-of-three quarter-finals series against dominant minor premiers Lakeside Lightning when they trailed Wanneroo Wolves on Saturday with just seconds remaining.

But Stirling fought back to send the game to overtime and controlled the extra period to upset their local rivals 129-115, which enabled the Senators to finish fifth.

At the same time as Stirling's comeback, Perth Redbacks held off a late revival from the East Perth Eagles to win 135-131, also after overtime.

That meant the four teams battling for positions from fifth to eighth - Stirling, Willetton, Perth and East Perth - finished tied with 15 wins, a scenario which worked perfectly for the Senators.

They finished top of the four-way head-to-head tie breaker so finished fifth and will fancy their chances of upsetting fourth seed Perry Lakes Hawks in the quarter-finals, which begin next weekend.

Willetton (seventh) will have to beat second-placed Wanneroo to defend their title after the Tigers wasted the chance to guarantee fifth spot when they lost 98-91 to East Perth on Friday.

That shapes as a tough series for the Tigers, who lost by 64 points last time they played the Wolves.

After beating Willetton, East Perth would have guaranteed fifth spot had it beaten the Redbacks, but instead slipped to eighth and now must stop Lakeside, who enter the play-offs on an incredible 16-game winning streak after thrashing South West Slammers 121-72.

Defeat ensured the Slammers finished the season winless for the second time in club history and continued a streak which has seen them win just one of their past 64 games.

Cockburn Cougars guaranteed a third place finish and set up a quarter-final match-up with Perth after they defeated Mandurah Magic 112-80. The Magic also lost 99-88 to Perry Lakes.

In the women's SBL, minor premiers Willetton Tigers head into the finals in a mini form slump after losing 82-68 to East Perth Eagles in the last round.

Willetton's second straight defeat was their heaviest of the season and the two-time defending champions will have to lift to overcome the in-form Lakeside Lightning, who they'll meet in the best-of-three quarter-finals series next weekend.

The Tigers were never in front after quarter-time as West Coast Waves forward Samantha Norwood (27 points) helped East Perth defeat the league leaders for the second time this season.

And East Perth secured a third-placed finish and extended its winning streak to nine games after beating Perth Redbacks 74-59 the next night.

The Eagles overcame a dominant performance from Redbacks centre Marita Payne (24 points and 20 rebounds) to book a quarter-finals match-up with Kalamunda Eastern Suns.

Kalamunda held onto sixth spot after Metropolis Fremantle Cockburn Cougars lost 79-68 to Mandurah Magic.

The Cougars needed to win to avoid facing Perry Lakes Hawks in the first round of the play-offs but fell short as Casey Mihovilovich (19 points, nine assists and nine rebounds) led the Magic to their fourth straight win, despite the best efforts of Cockburn's Emma Pass, who had 22 points.

Perry Lakes, who were already guaranteed to finish second, had several key players unavailable and lost 63-52 to Mandurah, which saw the Magic finish fourth.

Shelly Boston top-scored for the Magic with 19 points, while Belinda O'Halloran also had 19 points in Perry Lakes' fifth loss of the season.

Mandurah's opponents in the quarter-finals will be Wanneroo Wolves, who missed out on a top-four spot and finished fifth despite their 87-48 thrashing of Stirling Senators.

Rebecca Mercer had 24 points to help Wanneroo to their third straight win, while Michelle Joy had 21 points for the Senators, who finished 10th.

Final round results

Men

Perth Redbacks 135 (Adrian Majstrovich 41 Ryan Neill 36 Michael Vigor 24) defeated East Perth Eagles 131 (Drew Williamson 35 Jarrod Balcombe 26 Corey Easley 23).

Geraldton Buccaneers 101 (Todd Brown 30 Ben Pepper 26 Aaron Ralph 19) defeated Kalamunda Eastern Suns 86 (Justin Brown 30 Dean Hadley 23 Ben Smith 15).

South West Slammers 72 (Trent Worthington 22 Nick Freer 17 Corey Richardson 11) lost to Lakeside Lightning 121 (Luke Payne 22 Benjamin Beran 22 Kyle Armour 20).

Cockburn Cougars 112 (Ty Harrelson 28 Stanley Ocitti 26 Ben Stanley 12) defeated Mandurah Magic 80 (Thomas Remmerswaal 20 Ben Smith 17 Ben Caporn 10).

Mandurah Magic 88 (Ben Smith 21 Thomas Remmerswaal 20 Paul Pantaleo 11) lost to Perry Lakes Hawks 99 (Anthony Lee 36 Ben Purser 21 Joe-Alan Tupaea 12).

Goldfields Giants 94 (Darnell Dialls 26 Matthew Leske 15 Dwayne Radcliffe 14) defeated Rockingham Flames 90 (Jerel Allen 23 Kent Tribbet 16 Rhett Della Maddalena 15).

Stirling Senators 129 (Lee Roberts 41 Michael Jones 33 Austin Bruton 17) defeated Wanneroo Wolves 115 (Greg Hire 31 Sebestian Salinas 17 Bradley Robbins 17).

East Perth Eagles 98 (Drew Williamson 30 Tom Jervis 27 Jarrod Balcombe 24) defeated Willetton Tigers 91 (Robert Kampman 37 Alex Prince 14 Robert Cassir 12).

Women

Perth Redbacks 59 (Marita Payne 24 Brooke Hiddlestone 11 Desiree Delcoure 7) lost to East Perth Eagles 74 (Nicole Jorre St Jorre 18 Kate Fielding 16 Melissa Winfield 12).

South West Slammers 66 (Bianca Donovan 16 Lisa Cartwright 11 Donnell Wallam 9) lost to Lakeside Lightning 86 (Heidi McNeil 21 Courtney Bayliss 20 Courtney Byrnes 14).

Cockburn Cougars 68 (Emma Pass 22 Courtney Hargreaves 13 Taryn Priestly 13) lost to Mandurah Magic 79 (Casey Mihovilovich 19 Hailey Dunham 19 Shelley Boston 17).

Mandurah Magic 63 (Shelley Boston 19 Casey Mihovilovich 15 Hailey Dunham 11) defeated Perry Lakes Hawks 52 (Belinda O'Halloran 19 Christine Boyd 15 Rosie Tobin 5).

Stirling Senators 48 (Michelle Joy 21 Emma Berryman 8 Samantha Roscoe 8) lost to Wanneroo Wolves 87 (Rebecca Mercer 24 Whitney Perret 16 Sherelle Johnson 13).

East Perth Eagles 82 (Samantha Norwood 2 Nicole Jorre St Jorre 17 Kate Fielding 16) defeated Willetton Tigers 68 (Kate Malpass 26 Jasmine Hooper 18 Melissa Marsh 8).

Men's final ladder (wins-losses)
1 Lakeside Lightning 24-2
2 Wanneroo Wolves 18-8
3 Cockburn Cougars 18-8
4 Perry Lakes Hawks 17-9
5 Stirling Senators 15-11
6 Perth Redbacks 15-11
7 Willetton Tigers 15-11
8 East Perth Eagles 15-11

9 Goldfields Giants 12-14
10 Kalamunda Eastern Suns 10-16
11 Geraldton Buccaneers 9-17
12 Rockingham Flames 7-19
13 Mandurah Magic 7-19

14 South West Slammers 0-26

Women's final ladder (wins-losses)
1 Willetton Tigers 18-4
2 Perry Lakes Hawks 17-5
3 East Perth Eagles 16-6
4 Mandurah Magic 16-6
5 Wanneroo Wolves 15-7
6 Kalamunda Eastern Suns 12-10
7 Cockburn Cougars 11-11

8 Lakeside Lightning 10-12

9 Perth Redbacks 7-15
10 Stirling Senators 6-16
11 South West Slammers 2-20
12 Rockingham Flames 2-20