THE Perth Redbacks and Rockingham Flames both completed double-win weekends in the Men's SBL on Sunday with the playoff bound teams scoring wins over the Goldfields Giants and Willetton Tigers respectively.

The Texture WA Perth Redbacks opened the Sunday SBL action hosting the Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants at Belmont Oasis Leisure Centre, and delivered a solid 136-100 victory.

Sunday's rescheduled clash from the previous night then saw two playoff bound teams play out a cracker at Mike Barnett Sports Complex with the Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames holding on to beat the Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 88-84.

Week 18 isn't quite finished yet, though, with the Women's and Men's contests between the Joondalup Wolves and Kalamunda Eastern Suns from Saturday night to take place on Tuesday evening at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

Week 18 Saturday night SBL wrap
Flames score double over Senators ahead of crucial night v Tigers
Week 18 Friday night SBL wrap

Starting at Belmont Oasis, the Redbacks were coming off a late night in Bunbury where they beat the South West Slammers 105-85 on the back of last week's surprise loss to the Lakeside Lightning.

The Giants had also played the Cockburn Cougars on Saturday losing by 18 points and while they did fight hard, especially in the first half, the Redbacks had too many weapons and caught fire from the outside.

The Giants did well to only be 10 points down at the half but the Redbacks piled on 31 points in the opening five minutes of the third quarter with the Giants falling down by over 30 points. That's where the margin remained the rest of the way with Perth ending up winning by 36.

The Redbacks shot 46-of-85 from the field but it was from deep they did the damage nailing 24-of-45 at 53 per cent while also winning the rebound battle 51 to 37. The Giants shot 36-of-91 from the field at 39 per cent and 10-of-34 from beyond the arc at 29 per cent.

Jourdan DeMuynck played just under 25 minutes for the Redbacks but was outstanding with 28 points, seven rebounds, three steals and two assists nailing 6-of-10 from three-point range.

Ben Smith also hit 6-of-10 from downtown for 26 points with Reed McConnell nailing 4-of-8 of his threes for 21 points.

Logan Viskovich contributed 13 points and four rebounds for Perth with Lewis Thomas adding 11 points, nine boards and five assists, Jack Wagner 10 points and Joel Wagner nine points and seven assists.

Kenny Manigault top-scored for the Giants with 25 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals with Jacob Holmen adding 14 points and six boards, Ezra Nikora 12 points, Jerome Reid 11 points, Daniel Goodluck 10 points and three assists, and Russell Hurst eight points and 12 rebounds.

Redbacks coach Nik Lackovic couldn’t have been happier with the way his group responded across the weekend firstly against the Slammers on Saturday and then the Giants on Sunday.

"We were pretty confident we knew how the group would respond. We were really disappointed as a group after the game against Lakeside. We had no one who played well in the areas that we measure, which is disappointing, but we were still in that game up until the last minute or two," Lackovic said.

"Take nothing away from Lakeside, they deserved to win that game so we had a good week at training, we made the adjustments we needed to and it was super competitive. We took the long trip south in a game that almost got called off and we didn’t start until 9 o'clock and didn’t get home in bed until after 2.

"So to get here to play at 12 and see the way the guys responded was good. I'm really proud of the way the guys are playing at the moment. This is a good group. They are really tight and together, and we wanted to make sure we had a lot of effort and enthusiasm to start the game.

"With that we know how well we move the ball and the ability we have with good movement and spacing to stretch the floor with our shooters. The reward was there for them and they did a great job of moving the ball, and knocked down shots when they had to."

Then at Mike Barnett Sports Complex, the Flames and Tigers met in a crucial contest that could go a long way to deciding a top four position come the end of the regular season in two weeks' time and it was Rockingham that held on in a thriller to win by four points.

The win backs up the Flames' strong come from behind win over the Stirling Senators at Warwick Stadium on Friday and improves them to 15-9 while the Tigers have lost two straight to now be 15-9 as well with two rounds, and three games, left.

The Flames were understandably on a high coming off the win over the Senators on Friday after being down 22 points 10 minutes into the game, and they were on top of the Tigers most of the evening on Sunday.

Rockingham led by five points at quarter-time, by three at half-time and by seven heading into the fourth but it was Willetton who opened the final period on fire with the opening 10 points to take a 77-73 lead.

The Tigers then went up by six after a basket by Kyle Armour with five and-a-half minutes left but the Flames again responded and with a minute left they were back in front following a make from Taylor Land before Cooper Land and Ryan Godfrey iced their win at the free-throw line.

Cooper Land backed up his 45 points and 14 rebounds from Friday with 39 points and 10 boards for the Flames shooting 16-of-27 from the field, 2-of-5 from deep and 5-of-9 from the line.

Chudier Pal contributed 14 points, 11 rebounds and four assists with Luke Roberts finishing with 10 points and three assists, Ryan Godfrey nine points and Taylor Land eight points, six assists and six rebounds.

Jay Bowie did all he could to try and get the Tigers over the line finishing with 27 points and 10 rebounds.

Damien Scott added 19 points, five rebounds and four assists for Willetton, Kyle Armour 16 points, six boards and four assists, and Nic Cody nine points and three rebounds.

SUNDAY MEN'S SBL MATCHES
Nags Head Tavern & Bistro Rockingham Flames 88 defeated Goodlife Homes Willetton Tigers 84
Texture WA Perth Redbacks 136 defeated Silver Lake Resources Goldfields Giants 100

Article by Chris Pike
Photo by Mick Cronin