Basketball: Purple Cobras in second place on ladder after win over Hawks A

Purple Cobras defeated Hawks A by 14 points at Manjimup Recreation Centre on Wednesday night. Hawks A had occupied second on the ladder behind Barracudas, while Purple Cobras were third, behind by percentage of less than 10 per cent, having the same amount of points as Hawks A. The game started strong for the Purple Cobras, with Riley Mason and Rohan Barber making several goals to give their team a quick lead in the first minutes of the match, while Hawks A’s Lyndon Muir scored a two-pointer to narrow the lead. However, Mason was able to add a three-pointer while teammate Kester Decke scored a two-pointer to keep Purple Cobras’ momentum going. Hawks A spent most of the half playing catch-up with the Purple Cobras until Muir and Tyson Lee were able to sink back-to-back three-pointers to tie the scores and go into halftime 23-23. The second half featured the two teams continuing their arm wrestle the lead, with any attempts to break away quickly being thwarted, including a three-pointer by Hawks A’s Reece Edwards. However, the Purple Cobras were able to get their lead back, with Connor Tempra, Mason and Tyson Jacob scoring back-to-back buckets to give their team the momentum they needed. Kallum East scored back-to-back two-pointers, as well as Barber, to help the Purple Cobras extend their lead and ensure victory in the last minutes of the game, despite Lee scoring a two-pointer and Ryan Gandy getting a free throw for Hawks A. A final two-pointer from Jacob helped add to the Purple Cobras’ 14-point win, with the score 58-44 at full time. In the other men’s A-grade matches, Wolfpack beat Raiders 50-32 while Barracudas beat Hawkers 77-44. In the men’s B-grade matches, Yabbies beat Billy Goats 42-30, Redbacks beat Tropics 45-24 and Giants beat Warriors 61-17.