WITH Alan Black arriving as coach and with a host of big name signings there was plenty of hype surrounding the Willetton Tigers coming into the 2015 men's SBL season, but following a big loss to Joondalup they have a big task to bounce back against East Perth this Sunday.

The weekend's action in the men's SBL begins on Friday night with two matches that sees the Lakeside Lightning host the Perth Redbacks at Lakeside Recreation Centre and the Cockburn Cougars take on the Perry Lakes Hawks at Wally Hagan Stadium. Both matches tip off at 8.30pm.

It's then a massive Saturday night with five matches and starting at 7.30pm is the Goldfields Giants hosting the Rockingham Flames at Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium and the Perry Lakes Hawks facing the Geraldton Buccaneers at the WA Basketball Centre.

Then at 8pm on Saturday night, the East Perth Eagles play the South West Slammers at Morley Sport and Recreation Centre and the Stirling Senators battle the Cockburn Cougars at Warwick Leisure Centre.

Finally on Saturday night at 8.30pm, the Kalamunda Eastern Suns take on the Joondalup Wolves at Ray Owen Sports Centre.

The round concludes with three matches on Sunday with the Perth Redbacks playing the Geraldton Buccaneers at midday at Curtin University Stadium.

Then at 2pm on Sunday, the Mandurah Magic face the Stirling Senators at Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre and the Willetton Tigers face off with the East Perth Eagles at Willetton Basketball Stadium.

The round's action begins on Friday night with the Lightning hosting the Redbacks and with both teams looking to get back on the winner's list.

Lakeside started the season last Saturday night with a 100-91 win over the Cougars but couldn’t quite back it up on Sunday losing to the South West Slammers by 20 points.

But the Lightning's quest to bounce back won't be easy with the Redbacks hunting for their first win of 2015 after going down at home last Saturday night to the Senators, meaning that it should be a cracking contest between two talented line-ups.

Friday night's other fixture pits two more teams against each other looking for their first wins of the season in the Cougars and Hawks when they meet at Wally Hagan Stadium.

The Cougars lost to the Lightning last Saturday night despite the best efforts of Gavin Field while the Hawks couldn’t quite keep pace with the defending champions East Perth on Friday night.

Then on Saturday night, the Goldfields Giants were the only team to have a double-loss opening round going down to Willetton by 38 points and Kalamunda by five as they prepare for their first home game of the season against Rockingham.

The Giants' hopes of bouncing back with a win have been dealt a significant blow with captain Lordan Franich suffering a significant knee injury last weekend against Kalamunda leaving him sidelined indefinitely.

The Flames started their season off with an impressive four-point win over the Eagles last Saturday night just to show that the Giants' job will be even harder to avoid going 0-3 to open 2015.

The Hawks then have less than 24 hours to regroup following Friday's clash with the Cougars before hosting last year's grand finalists the Buccaneers on Saturday.

Perry Lakes will be hoping it still isn’t searching for its first win of the season but Geraldton will be looking to build some momentum after going 1-1 last weekend losing to the Slammers by six points but beating the Magic by two.

The Eagles also host the Slammers on Saturday night in what looms as another tantalising match-up. East Perth began its championship defence with a 103-85 win over the Hawks last Friday but then lost to the Flames 85-81 on Saturday.

The Slammers, meanwhile, beat the Buccaneers 118-112 last Saturday night and then backed it up on Sunday thumping the Lighting 115-95.

The Perth Wildcats' MVP Ball could seriously hinder East Perth's chances against South West, though, with the potential that coach Adam Forde as well as Tom Jervis, Sunday Dech and Rhys Vague are unavailable as a result.

The Cougars then have to back up from hosting the Hawks on Friday to take on the Senators at Warwick on Saturday and that is against a Stirling team who started its season impressively last Saturday night beating the Redbacks 84-72 at Curtin largely on the back of Cody Ellis' efforts.

The final game of Saturday night sees the Eastern Suns host the Wolves with Kalamunda looking to back up its win over Goldfields on Sunday while Joondalup is coming off a supremely impressive win over Willetton on Sunday.

The Wolves beat the Tigers 102-79 largely thanks to a remarkable triple-double from new import Kevin Davis who had 20 points, 12 rebounds and 10 blocks to earn himself Player of the Week honours.

The first clash on Sunday is at midday when the Redbacks host the Buccaneers.

Both teams are expected to be real contenders again in 2015 but Perth needs a win after losing its opening game last Saturday night at home to Stirling while Geraldton has a short turnaround after playing Perry Lakes on Saturday night.

The Magic then play their only game of the weekend hosting the Senators.

Stirling did well beating Perth last Saturday night and will have to back up from playing Cockburn on Saturday night, but Mandurah will be fresh and coming off a 1-1 opening weekend following a 106-98 win over Kalamunda and then a 105-103 loss to Geraldton.

The final game of the weekend could very well be the best when the Tigers host the Eagles.

Willetton has a new coach in Alan Black and signed up big for the new season adding the likes of Kyle Armour, Damien Scott and imports Ephrem Davis and Corey Easley.

The Tigers did start their new season impressively last Saturday night thrashing the Giants 114-76 at home but they weren’t able to back it up against the Wolves on Sunday, losing emphatically 102-79.

They will now face a stern test against the defending champions on Sunday and the Eagles should have available everyone who might not be on Saturday night due to Perth Wildcats duties.

WEEK 2 MEN'S SBL FIXTURES
FRIDAY
Lakeside Lightning v Perth Redbacks, Lakeside Recreation Centre 8.30pm
Cockburn Cougars v Perry Lakes Hawks, Wally Hagan Stadium 8.30pm

SATURDAY
Goldfields Giants v Rockingham Flames, Neils Hansen Basketball Stadium 7.30pm
Perry Lakes Hawks v Geraldton Buccaneers, WA Basketball Centre 7.30pm
East Perth Eagles v South West Slammers, Morley Sport and Recreation Centre 8pm
Stirling Senators v Cockburn Cougars, Warwick Leisure Centre 8pm
Kalamunda Eastern Suns v Joondalup Wolves, Ray Owen Sports Centre 8.30pm

SUNDAY
Perth Redbacks v Geraldton Buccaneers, Curtin University Stadium 12pm
Mandurah Magic v Stirling Senators, Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre 2pm
Willetton Tigers v East Perth Eagles, Willetton Basketball Stadium 2pm

Article by Chris Pike