Huge Thursday night to open round (Week 6 Men's SBL Preview)

WEEK 6 of the men's SBL season gets underway with three huge Thursday night matches with Stirling hunting for its first win since signing Cody Ellis, Perry Lakes looking for a fourth straight win and Rockingham out to maintain top spot.

With three games on Thursday night, four on Saturday night and then one on Easter Monday afternoon, it is a massive weekend of SBL men's basketball and there is no excuse to not go out and check out at least one match.

The action begins on Thursday night with the Joondalup Wolves hosting the Stirling Senators at Joondalup Basketball Stadium, the Rockingham Flames facing the Cockburn Cougars at Mike Barnett Sports Complex and the Perry Lakes Hawks facing the Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles at the WA Basketball Centre.

The Wolves have won four of their first five games this season to be sitting in third position on the standings with a 4-1 record ahead of hosting a Senators team with a 2-3 record and having lost two straight matches since welcoming Cody Ellis into their squad.

The top-of-the-table Flames then look to stretch their winning run to seven straight matches since losing their opening game of the season to the Perth Redbacks.

Rockingham has since beaten Geraldton, Willetton, Mandurah, Joondalup, Goldfields and South West, and now take on the struggling Cougars at home on Thursday.

Cockburn's season has been the complete opposite of Rockingham with the Cougars winning in Week 1 by 39 points over the Eastern Suns, but since losing to Willetton, Mandurah, Perry Lakes, Goldfields and Geraldton.

The Flames moved to the top of the standings last week with Lakeside losing for the first time and it's now going to take a massive effort from the Cougars to dislodge them this Thursday.

The final match on Thursday night pits the in-form Hawks up against the Eagles.

Perry Lakes lost its first three games of the season but has now won three straight including handing the Lightning their first loss of the season with Josh Garlepp and Justin Cecil beginning to click nicely with Ben Purser, Rob Cassir and Ben Dixon.

There are then no matches on Good Friday but four big ones on Saturday night.

Two regional teams do battle at Active West Stadium with the Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers tackling the Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants.

The Mandurah Magic takes on the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers at the Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre while the Willetton Tigers play the Lakeside Lightning at Willetton Basketball Stadium and the Kalamunda Eastern Suns take on the Rockingham Flames at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

Two of the league's regional teams begin the action on Saturday with the Buccaneers hosting the Giants.

The Buccs have now won four straight matches to be finding some terrific form while the Giants are on a 2-5 record, but have won two of their last three matches.

The Magic then host the Slammers with Mandurah sitting on a 4-2 record having won three of its last four games, and South West now having lost three in-a-row following starting the 2014 campaign with consecutive victories.

The Tigers are struggling on the bottom of the men's SBL standings with just the one win so far this year, and their task of recording a second win is a massive one up against the defending champion Lakeside Lightning.

The Flames then become the only team to back up from playing on Thursday night to travel to Kalamunda to take on the 2-5 Eastern Suns on Saturday.

The round concludes on Monday afternoon at 2pm at the Belmont Oasis with the Perth Redbacks hosting the Joondalup Wolves.

Monday's only fixture then pits the 4-3 Redbacks up against last year's grand finalists the Wolves.

While Joondalup will be coming off playing Stirling on Thursday, the game will be Perth's only one of the weekend.

WEEK 6 MEN'S SBL FIXTURES
THURSDAY
Joondalup Wolves v Stirling Senators, Joondalup Basketball Stadium 8.30pm
Rockingham Flames v Cockburn Cougars, Mike Barnett Sports Complex 8.30pm
Perry Lakes Hawks v Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles, WA Basketball Centre 8.30pm

SATURDAY
Sun City Plumbing Geraldton Buccaneers v Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants, Active West Stadium 7.30pm
Mandurah Magic v Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers, Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre 8pm
Willetton Tigers v Lakeside Lightning, Willetton Basketball Stadium 8pm
Kalamunda Eastern Suns v Rockingham Flames, Ray Owen Sports Centre 8.30pm

MONDAY
Perth Redbacks v Joondalup Wolves, Belmont Oasis 2pm

Article by Chris Pike




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