League leaders snatch late victory

SBL men’s league leaders Joondalup Wolves escaped with a 79-71 win over an improving Printsync South West Slammers at the Eaton Recreation Centre on Saturday night.

Battered from their 92-89 loss against the Lakeside Lightning a night earlier, John Triscari’s men ran the Wolfpack ragged for lengthy periods and forced them to find an extra gear when put under pressure.

Such was the early dominance by the home side, their lead hovered close to double digits and forced Wolves coach Ben Ettridge to shuffle his pack from the sideline.

But gradually the visitors clawed their way back and turned for home trailing by two points.

Scores were tied at 68-all midway during the final term, before Wolves import Kevin Davis and Trian Illiadis inspired a 6-0 run to put the visitors in front for the remainder of the match.

Although Davis (15 points — 6/9 from the field, 0/1 from beyond the arc, 3/4 from the free throw line, 10 rebounds) sits second behind NBA legend Steph Curry for successful three point attempts at Davidson College in the US, he was content to play an inside shooting role, with Iliadis and Seb Salinas doing the bulk of the long-range damage.

After the game, Triscari lamented another match which got away, and the fact that Iliadis and Salinas were able to swiftly respond whenever the home side appeared to put the Wolfpack on the ropes.

“We spoke before the game about who the key shooters were,” he said.

“Salinas and Iliadis and what did we do? We left them alone and allowed them to penetrate. We spoke about collapsing the defence and keeping it really tight inside, because they like to penetrate and kick.

“We did that for three quarters and in the last quarter we stopped doing it. But you have to take positives. The last time we played them, they beat us by 50 points, so that is a massive improvement.”