THE GOLDFIELDS Giants beat the Geraldton Buccaneers on Saturday night in the men's SBL in a result that both puts them into a playoff position and goes a long way to securing the minor premiership for the Joondalup Wolves.

The Giants continued their hot form winning a fifth straight match with their win over the Buccs that sees them replace the Lakeside Lightning In eighth position, while the loss for the Buccaneers means they now fall two wins behind the league-leading Wolves after Week 16 of the 2015 season.

There were three men's contests on Friday night with the Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames beating the Lakeside Lightning 107-77 at Mike Barnett Sports Complex, the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers downing the Perry Lakes Hawks 109-93 at Eaton Recreation Centre and the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves defeating the Mandurah Magic 113-99 at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre.

There were five men's matches on Saturday night with the Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants defeating the S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers 105-91 at Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium and the Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars downing the Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 96-89 at Wally Hagan Stadium.

The Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles also beat the Kalamunda Eastern Suns 114-101 at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre, the Bethanie Stirling Senators defeated the Mandurah Magic 120-107 at Warwick Leisure Centre and the Perth Redbacks beat the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 85-78 at Curtin Stadium.

In the only men's contest on Sunday, the Perry Lakes Hawks beat the Perth Redbacks 121-116 at Bendat Basketball Centre.

The Week 16 results leave the Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves (19-3) on top of the men's standings ahead of the S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers (17-4), Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars (15-7) and Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers (14-7).

The Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames (11-9) are then in fifth position followed by the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers (11-10), Mandurah Magic (11-10) and Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants (10-11).

Then outside the top eight are the Lakeside Lightning (9-12), Perry Lakes Hawks (8-13), Bethanie Stirling Senators (7-13), Perth Redbacks (7-14), Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles (6-14) and Kalamunda Eastern Suns (2-20).

There were some superb individual performances again as well starting on Friday night with Ryan Godfrey top-scoring for the Flames in the big win over the Lightning with 21 points while Tom Remmerswaal contributed 19 points, Cooper Land 17 (nine rebounds), Chad Simpson 13 and Luke Roberts 12.

Tom Parkinson top-scored for the Lightning with 17 points and 11 rebounds with Jesse Dixon finishing with 15 points, Jordan Swing 14 and Brad Jackson 11.

Ty Harrelson top-scored for the Slammers as playing-coach with 28 points, nine rebounds and four assists while shooting 10-of-14 from the field.

Tre Nichols contributed 22 points, six boards and three assists as well for South West with Brian Voelkel 16 points, 16 rebounds and five assists, Wade Hitchcock 15 points and Clive Weeden 14 points, five rebounds and three steals.

Bryton Hobbs did all he could for the Hawks finishing with 21 points, nine rebounds and seven assists while Ben Purser added 12 points and 12 boards, Josh Garlepp 12 points and five rebounds, Ben Dixon 10 points, nine points and eight boards.

Trian Iliadis had an outstanding night for the Wolves finishing with 38 points, seven assists and five rebounds while hitting 8-of-16 from beyond the arc.

Kevin Davis added 22 points, 12 rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocked shots while Damian Matacz scored 10 points, Seb Salinas nine (seven rebounds), Rob Huntington nine (eight boards), Joel Questel eight (seven assists) and Louis Timms eight (five boards, four assists).

Ben Smith did all he could for the Magic finishing with 24 points and 12 rebounds and Paul Hafford 22 points, six boards and four assists.

Brendan Della also finished with 14 points for Mandurah, Taylor Mullenax 13, Rhett Della 12 and Beau Samuelson nine.

Then on Saturday night, Jay Bowie once again led the way for the Giants finishing with 34 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists on the back of shooting 13-of-25 from the field and 5-of-10 from three-point range.

Jacob Holmen contributed 28 points, 12 boards, four assists and two blocked shots with Mathiang Muo also scoring 16 points while pulling in six rebounds. Brandon Hewitt-Holloway added 11 points, five assists and four boards as well for Goldfields.

Bennie Lewis top-scored for the Buccaneers with 34 points, eight rebounds and three assists with Carter Cook contributing 17 points and five boards, Cory Cooperwood 10 points and seven rebounds, and Mat Wundenberg seven points, 23 boards and five assists.

Gavin Field ended up top-scoring for the Cougars with 24 points, seven rebounds and six assists while Najee Lane added 21 points, nine boards and three steals, and Sheldon McIntyre 20 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Eric Milam also added 15 points for Cockburn.

Playing-coach Ty Harrelson led the way for the Slammers with 30 points, six rebounds and four assists while Clive Weeden contributed 19 points, five boards, three assists and three blocked shots and Wade Hitchcock 18 points.

Brian Voelkel had another strong all-round game for South West with 15 points, 20 rebounds and seven assists.

Josh Barnett was the standout performer in the win for the Eagles finishing with 30 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots on the back of shooting 12-of-17 from the field and 6-of-8 from three-point territory.

Sunday Dech added 21 points and six boards for East Perth with Joe-Alan Tupaea finishing with 19 points and 12 assists, Brendan Dinardo 16 points and seven assists, and Rhys Vague 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Lien Phillip top-scored for the Eastern Suns with 28 points and 15 rebounds while shooting 11-of-17 from the floor and 3-of-4 from beyond the arc.

Seva Chan added 19 points, five rebounds and five assists for the Suns while Kevin Anthony finished with 18 points, six assists and four boards off the bench. James Dech finished with 15 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals as well for Kalamunda.

Captain Cody Ellis was the one to put his Senators team on his back and lead them to victory finishing with 35 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots.

Austin Bruton added 25 points and four steals for Stirling while Kyle Lindbergh contributed 18 points, 13 rebounds and six rebounds, Tom Witts 13 points and five boards, and Nikolas Iliadis 12 points. Jayden Coburn did well off the bench as well with 15 points, five rebounds and five assists.

Ben Smith had a big night for the Magic with 30 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two blocks with Paul Hafford contributing 20 points, eight boards and three assists.

Captain Taylor Mullenax also had 17 points and eight rebounds for Mandurah with Brendan Della contributing 11 points and Rhett Della 11 to go with five rebounds.

Ray Turner top-scored for the Redbacks with 32 points and 16 rebounds while Raphiael Putney contributed 16 points, 14 boards and eight blocked shots in his most impressive performance since replacing Marshall Brown as Perth's second import.

Adam Johnson also scored 12 points to go with five assists for the Redbacks with Ben Smith adding 11 points and Joel Wagner four to go with nine assists.

Damien Scott top-scored for the Tigers with 20 points, four rebounds and three assists while Mitch Clarke contributed 12 points and seven boards, and Ephrem Davis 11 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots.

Then finally on Sunday,

As a result of the win, the Hawks improve to an 8-13 record to be two games behind the eighth placed Goldfields Giants who are 10-11. Meanwhile, the Redbacks couldn’t quite back up their win over the Willetton Tigers on Saturday night to slip further out of the playoff hunt at 7-14.

Bryton Hobbs did all he possibly could to ensure the Hawks got over the line finishing with 46 points, 10 assists and six rebounds while shooting 16-of-25 from the floor, 5-of-12 from beyond the arc and 9-of-10 from the foul line.

Ben Purser contributed 21 points and nine rebounds for Perry Lakes with Josh Garlepp adding 19 points, Rob Cassir 14 and Ryan Smith 11.

Ray Turner had a huge afternoon for the Redbacks with 39 points and 19 rebounds on the back of shooting 15-of-26 from the field and 9-of-14 from the free-throw line, but it wasn’t quite enough.

Joel Wagner added 17 points and eight assists for Perth while Raphiael Putney contributed 15 points, nine boards and two blocked shots, Ben Smith 15 points, and Marshall Nelson 10.

FRIDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames 107 defeated Lakeside Lightning 77
Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 109 defeated Perry Lakes Hawks 93
Mandurah Magic 99 lost to Merriwa Tavern & Bistro Joondalup City Wolves 113

SATURDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants 105 defeated S & K Electrical Geraldton Buccaneers 91
Soprano Designs Cockburn Cougars 96 defeated Collie Crane Hire South West Slammers 89
Vorian Agency East Perth Eagles 114 defeated Kalamunda Eastern Suns 101
Bethanie Stirling Senators 120 defeated Mandurah Magic 107
Perth Redbacks 85 defeated Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 78

SUNDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Perry Lakes Hawks 121 defeated Perth Redbacks 116

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Mick Cronin