Rockingham Flames men bow out with preliminary final loss

For most of the NBL1 West season, Rockingham’s men’s team was the team to beat.

The defending champs were hot favourites to repeat in 2023 and after racking up a 19-3 regular season record, the back-to-back plan looked well on track.

It was all going to plan through the first week of finals, as the Flames accounted for Perry Lakes to earn a home preliminary final.

And the plan was definitely still on track when the Joondalup Wolves rolled into town on Saturday to challenge Rockingham’s rightful claim to a spot in this year’s grand final.

The Wolves had worked their way to the Hot House the hard way, having to win through two knockout finals after scraping in the playoffs in sixth position on the back of some last-minute wins.

Unfortunately for the Flames, the northern suburbs’ side brought their late-season will-to-win down the freeway. And when the game was on the line, it was the Wolves with the critical tips, touches, hustle plays and ultimately, a game-winning dagger in overtime.

The 97-94 upset means the Wolves – not the red-hot favourite Flames – take on Geraldton this Saturday night in the NBL1 West showcase game.

Captain Ryan Godfrey and his star-studded line-up will be licking their wounds over the loss for some time, because they came oh so close to flipping the outcome – both in regulation and then during a five-minute overtime battle of attrition.

Devondrick Walker even had a long-range shot to win it just before the buzzer sounded to end the fourth quarter, but the ball bounced off the back of the rim to send the game to overtime.

The league MVP’s radar was off most of the night but he was certainly not going to die wondering as the Flames continued to run their offence through their superstar’s hands.

Only a minute before that, he’d given the Flames a one-point lead and the raucous Rockingham home crowd reason to believe they might be headed to another grand final.

But he then committed an unnecessary reaching foul — his fourth — as Christian Jurlina brought the ball up court, sending the unheralded Wolves guard to the free-throw line where he made one of his two to tie the game at 84.

Walker took it upon all himself to win the game in regulation, but his fadeaway jumper missed.

The Wolves then turned it over when CJ Turnage fumbled the ball as their 24-second clock, which set up the opportunity for Walker to let fly his hopeful winner from well behind the three-point line.

In overtime, Walker missed on a hard drive to the basket but giant Tom Jervis scooped the rebound and scored the put-back points, which kept alive the Flames’ hopes.

Jervis, the former Perth Wildcat, scored six of his team’s 10 overtime points.

Walker, who finished with 32 points and 11 rebounds but connected on just 4-20 three-pointers, scored Rockingham’s final three when he came off a screen to tie the scores with 45 seconds to play.

The reliable Jervis then looked to have saved the day on the Wolves’ next offensive set, coming from nowhere to swat a shot just as Wolves star Quintin Dove looked like hitting a game winner.

But the ball Jervis sent flying towards the sideline landed in Joondalup hands, and then passed cruelly to the big man’s direct opponent Ioannis Dimakopoulos, who hammered home a three-pointer with just seconds to play.

Another miss from Walker and the game was done.

The game winning shot from Joondalup’s 218cm ‘Greek freak’ Dimakopoulos was his third triple on his way to a game MVP 16 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists display.

Point guard Bryan Michaels was also huge for Joondalup, with an unlikely running floater in overtime capping his night of 16 points and three shot blocks.

Dove led his side with 27 points and 12 rebounds and CJ Turner scored 20, including four in overtime.

More than once Godfrey provided a necessary spark off the bench for the Flames, the veteran twice engineered comebacks with back-to-back three-pointers.

But sharp-shooter guard Marshall Nelson had a poor night, fouling out with just six points and American Jeremy Combs was also quiet by his standard.