THE Cockburn Cougars and Joondalup Wolves battled over top spot in the Men's SBL right throughout the season and now will meet in the 2016 Grand Final after both won their semi-final match ups on Saturday night.

The Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars beat the S&K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers at Active West Stadium last Saturday night in a thriller 100-96 and it was another tight affair on their home floor of Wally Hagan Stadium on Saturday.

The Cougars finished stronger to end up winning 92-86 to advance to the Grand Final after being minor premiers and to eliminate a Buccaneers team who came from fourth before beating the Rockingham Flames in the quarter finals.

The Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves and Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers played out two exciting, high-scoring, intense and physical battles with the Wolves winning 122-103 on their home floor last Saturday, and the Tigers at their home 128-99 on Friday.

Week 2 Men's SBL Semi Final Friday night wrap 

That set up a tantalising Game 3 back at Joondalup Basketball Stadium on Saturday night but in the end the defending champion Wolves won for a 29th straight time on their home floor winning 110-95 over a gallant Tigers.

That sets up a mouth-watering Men's SBL Grand Final next Saturday night at Bendat Basketball Centre between the top two teams all season with that first spot only decided when the Cougars won a heated battle at home in the final round of the regular season.

The Buccaneers came to Cockburn needing to win on the road to force a decider on Sunday, but having beaten the Flames in Rockingham in the quarter finals, that held no fear for a team full of talent and experience.

Little separated the two teams all evening with the Buccs leading by two points at quarter-time, the Cougars by four at half-time and then Cockburn by two heading into the fourth.

The Cougars hit 11 of the first 13 points of the final quarter to open up an 82-71 advantage with eight minutes remaining and even though the Buccs were good enough to level scores again with a minute and-a-half remaining, Cockburn steadied.

The Cougars scored the game's last six points to secure the win and a first Grand Final appearance since winning the 2012 championship.

Cockburn shot just 35-of-100 from the field and Geraldton 35-of-78 at 44 per cent, but those 22 extra shots by the Cougars were crucial as they won the rebound battle 58 to 42.

Marcus Goode top-scored for the Cougars with 29 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots while hitting 3-of-6 from downtown and 8-of-8 at the stripe.

Najee Lane added 28 points and 16 rebounds for Cockburn while Rhett Della contributed eight points and eight boards, Dan Thomas seven points, four rebounds and four assists, Julian Pesava seven points and six boards, and Sheldon McIntyre six points, six rebounds and three assists.

Jackson Hussey did all he could to try and get the Buccs over the line finishing with 27 points, six rebounds and five assists shooting 12-of-23 from the field and 2-of-4 from downtown.

Carter Cook finished with 25 points as well for the Buccaneers, Matthew Adekponya 13 points, Maurice Barrow 12 points and 15 rebounds, and Mat Wundenberg four points and 10 boards.

Then at Joondalup Basketball Stadium for the deciding Game 3 of an exciting series, the Wolves remained unbeaten at home since April of last year with Trian Iliadis and Seb Salinas in particular just refusing to lose.

The Tigers showed no fear all evening and continued to take it right to the defending champions and had built plenty of momentum going into three quarter-time having drawn scores level.

But the Wolves found something in the fourth quarter and with a devastated Jay Bowie fouling out with two minutes remaining, the Wolfpack managed to run over the top of a brave Willetton with 30 points to 15 in the fourth period to win by that margin and make a second straight Grand Final.

Joondalup ended up shooting 35-of-78 at 44 per cent from the field and 15-of-32 at 46 per cent from three while Willetton went 32-of-83 from the floor and 13-of-36 at 36 per cent from downtown.

The Wolves again won the rebound count 47 to 38 but the Tigers did well forcing them to 22 turnovers. But they scored just 19 points off those while the Wolves hit 27 points from Willetton's 19 turnovers.

Iliadis was unstoppable with the game on the line for the Wolfpack reminiscent of last year's Grand Final performance finishing with 29 points while hitting 6-of-10 from deep. Captain Salinas was also outstanding with 25 points and seven boards nailing 5-of-9 from long range.

Reece Maxwell celebrated his 150th SBL appearance with 17 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists and four steals while Rob Huntington contributed 16 points and six boards for the Wolves, and Kevin Davis 12 points and 14 rebounds.

Before fouling out, Bowie was tremendous for the Tigers with 28 points and four rebounds shooting 10-of-17 from the field and 3-of-7 from three-point range.

Captain Kyle Armour desperately wanted another crack at a Grand Final and had 19 points, five rebounds and four assists for the Tigers while Damien Scott finished with 16 points, seven boards and six assists.

Josh Johnson also had 14 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three blocks, and Charles Funches 10 points, nine boards, five blocked shots, three steals and three assists.

Wolves coach Ben Ettridge is looking for his third championship at Joondalup but paid full credit to how hard Willetton made his team work to get back to the Grand Final.

"All credit to the Tigers and to Kyle Armour, Damien Scott and Jay Bowie who are as good as there is going around in the league," Ettridge said.

"They are a bit undersized but Nic Cody and Josh Johnson just played out of their skin and then their contributions from young Blacky and Charles Funches, they went seven deep and we had to guard everyone that was on the floor.

"Stephen and his staff did an amazing job and picked us apart in Game 2 and they made the right adjustments, and then we had to make the adjustments back. That's what you want at this time of year and you want to be challenged.

"It was a tough series and we were happy to play the last one at home, that's what you work hard for all year. That's why we wanted to finish top two to have that home-court the whole way through."

MEN'S SBL SEMI FINAL GAME 2
Lapa Brazilian BBQ Restaurant Cockburn Cougars 92 defeated S&K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers 86

MEN'S SBL SEMI FINAL GAME 3
Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves 110 defeated Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 95

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Serene-Elise Photography