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SBL: Willetton Tigers fall 122-103 in game one to Joondalup Wolves

Pia van StraalenCanning Gazette

THE Cockburn Cougars and Joondalup Wolves were the top two Men’s SBL teams throughout the season and now both are just one win away from a grand final showdown after Game 1 semi-final victories on Saturday night.

It was a devastating result for Willetton Tigers men, who lost 122-103 at Joondalup Basketball Stadium.

The result means the Tigers must win Game 2 at Willetton Basketball Stadium on Friday to force Game 3 back at Joondalup on Saturday night.

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The Wolves and Tigers delivered a tremendous contest for four quarters with the intensity going up a notch and the quality of the game certainly befitting a semi-final match up.

Damien Scott had a monstrous first half with 27 points for the Tigers and three triples in the third quarter from Charles Funches kept Willetton within touch of Joondalup, every time they did get close, the Wolves were able to steady and pull away again.

Tigers coach Stephen Black was happy with a lot of what his team did despite the loss and felt if they can fix up a couple of areas, particularly on the boards, that they could bounce back on Friday.

“I thought it was a really high quality game and we played well, and they played well. I think in the end they wore us down a bit but there was a lot of positives we can take away from that and hopefully put into place back at our place on Friday,” Black said.

“If we can manage to just attack and things bounce our way then we probably played well enough in the first half offensively to have a bit of a lead, but we just didn’t quite do the job on the boards that we needed to do.

“If we can do a better job there then we give ourselves a chance to really get something done on Friday.”

In the women’s game, the Tigers won Game 1 over the Rockingham Flames 82-59 at Mike Barnett Sports Complex.

Zoe Harper pulled in 10 rebounds, two assists and eight points and Desiree Kelley scored 12 points, three steals, three assists and five rebounds for an awesome overall game.