The Wildcats trailed all game long until star small forward Weigh went one-on-one with his opponent with 15 seconds to go and drew a foul with just 2.8 seconds to go.

He coolly nailed both free throw attempts to first draw the scores level and then put the 'Cats one-point ahead which is where the reigning NBL champions stayed when full-time expired.

Saturday night's victory comes on the back of a five-point win on Tuesday night at Waroona and then a nine-point victory on Thursday at Lakeside.

The win at Joondalup, the home of the Wanneroo Wolves, came on the back of 16 points from co-captain Shawn Redhage, 11 points and nine rebounds from reigning Rookie of the Year Jesse Wagstaff, 11 points, six assists and five boards from Weigh and six points and five rebounds from big man recruit Matt Knight.

Knight was especially impressive in his defensive job on Minnesota Timberwolves NBA player Anthony Tolliver while Wagstaff was the Wildcats' best performer on the night after he missed the game on Tuesday with a sore toe.

Development player Greg Hire also did some nice things with point guard Joel Wagner stepping up in the absence of Damian Martin, Kevin Lisch, Brad Robbins and Cameron Tovey to do his best running the point for the 'Cats.

Tolliver still shone through with his NBA experience for the Lakeside All Stars finishing with 25 points and 12 rebounds. Danny Brown dominated in the first half with 18 points, but the Wildcats knuckled down on him in the second to hold him to 23 and five assists for the game.

The Wildcats will now resume training this week and prepare for the Friendly Games tournament to be held at the WA Basketball Centre from September 17-19 featuring the Sydney Kings and Chinese powers the Beijing Ducks and Shanghai Sharks.

Perth Wildcats 74 (Shawn Redhage 16, Jesse Wagstaff 11, Stephen Weigh 11) defeated
Lakeside All Stars 73 (Anthony Tolliver 25, Danny Brown 23)
at Joondalup Basketball Stadium

The Friendship Games will feature not only the defending NBL champion Wildcats, but also the newly reformed Sydney Kings, and Chinese powers the Beijing Ducks and Shanghai Sharks.

The tournament will take place at the WA Basketball Centre as it hosts the four teams who will play off in a double-header on each of the Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights over the weekend in the round-robin format.

The Shanghai Ducks will bring to Perth 7'9 (236cm) big man Sun Ming Ming and he will provide quite the spectacle on his own for WA basketball fans. He is also known for having starred in a fight scene where he towered over Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in the feature film Rush Hour 3.

The Shanghai Sharks are best known for being the club that Houston Rockets centre and seven-time NBA All Star Yao Ming was drafted out of after winning the Chinese Basketball Association championship in 2001.

It will begin on Friday September 17 with the Sydney Kings, who return to the NBL this season after a two-year absence, taking on the Beijing Ducks with the Wildcats then hitting the court to face the Shanghai Sharks.

On the Saturday evening, the Kings play the Sharks and then the Wildcats take on the Ducks.

The tournament will conclude on Sunday with the two Chinese teams playing one another first up and then the Wildcats and Kings renewing their rivalry with their first game up against each other since Sydney folded at the end of 2007/08 NBL season.

Former Australian basketball great and Perth Wildcats legend Andrew Vlahov is the chief executive of RV Sport, which is behind the tournament, and he's excited to be bringing the three teams to Perth to go up against the defending NBL champion 'Cats.

"We are thrilled to bring this calibre of players to Western Australia. There is a very competitive mix of teams from China and Australia which have traditionally had fierce rivalries," Vlahov said.

"The Friendship Games is a chance to see top notch talent in WA; the spiritual home of Australian basketball.

"It will be a great spectacle to see the massive Beijing player Sun Ming Ming in the intimate, new WA Basketball Centre. Wildcats coach Rob Beveridge and I both agree it will be a big test for his championship team."

Friendship Games Schedule:
Friday September 17
Sydney Kings v Beijing Ducks, 6pm
Perth Wildcats v Shanghai Sharks, 8pm

Saturday September 18
Sydney Kings v Shanghai Sharks, 6pm
Perth Wildcats v Beijing Ducks, 8pm

Sunday September 19
Shanghai Sharks v Beijing Ducks, 6pm
Perth Wildcats v Sydney Kings, 8pm

Tickets
Tickets are available through Ticketmaster with prices starting at $15 each night for the double-headers.

Redhage took over from Paul Rogers as captain last season with great success as he won his fifth straight club Most Valuable Player award and was the championship-winning skipper as the Wildcats became the most successful franchise in NBL history with five titles.

This year he will be joined by the tough and inspirational Robbins, who played through last year's playoffs with rib, calf and hip injuries to star as a point guard in the Wildcats' first championship since the 1999/2000 season.

Robbins began his NBL career with the Victoria Giants in 2004 and spent another season with the Cairns Taipans before arriving in Perth for the 2006/07 campaign. The Melbourne-native has stayed ever since as WA has become home and the Wildcats have become the club he has constantly put his body on the line for.

The gutsy point guard who has been a leader by example ever since arriving at the Wildcats was certainly taken aback a little when told that he was going to be co-captain by coach Rob Beveridge, but it's something he's tremendously honoured by.

"I wouldn’t say I was overly surprised when Bevo told me, but I was definitely in disbelief there for a while. It was just such a surreal thing to be told and it did take a while to sink in," Robbins said.

"I'd say it only really sunk in when Bevo told the whole group and that was such a proud moment. I have such a strong history with Bevo and now to be a captain under him is great."

At no point before this has Robbins felt ready to be a captain even though it was something he did always think he'd want to do one day. However, now aged 25 he feels the timing is perfect for him to gain the added responsibility.

"Over the last year and-a-half it has been something I have really been aspiring to do, but before that I would have said no and that I wasn’t ready mentally for the responsibility," Robbins said.

"But over the last year and-a-half I have been through a lot in terms if the injury and just by being around the group as a senior player has helped me realise that I now really want to be a leader, and that I'm ready for it.

"It just feels right now and I feel like I'm at the point in my career where it is the right thing for me to take on. I'm ready for the challenge of being captain and I'm very proud of the honour, and it just feels right."

Robbins is also happy to be sharing the captaincy with Redhage so that the pair can share the responsibility and work as a team as captains with the young group they are leading.

"I've been at the club the longest along with Shawn now and we have such a young group and every guy has to step up really, especially me now as one of the senior guys. That extra responsibility now is the key thing. I think it will really help me step up even more," he said.

"There's no doubt there will be things that I will need help with so I'll look to Shawn a fair bit, but I'm sure there will be things that Shawn could use help with too and that's what I'll be there for. There's no reason not to have two captains and it should only make us a stronger combination."

Redhage's first year as captain last season could have hardly been better with the championship and going on to ensure his run of winning the club's MVP award every season he's been in Perth continued.

He is honoured to remain captain for a second season and is happy to have some help from Robbins this time around.

"It's a huge honour to be captain especially of a club that has had such great captains over years, and that has had the success that the Wildcats have," Redhage said.

"Brad and myself will complement each other really well and we've been around the club for a long time. This is my sixth year and he's been around five, so we know what to expect and will help the team out together as much as we can."

Redhage has been with the 'Cats the whole time Robbins has and has noticed he has been a natural leader even without the title of captain, and is now looking forward to working with him to lead the group.

"Robbo has been a leader on this team for a number of years now and he's someone that all the players look up to and respect just with the way he goes about it," Redhage said.

"It will be nice to have someone backing you up and that you can turn to at any time, so I'm happy to have another captain on board. We have an extremely young team and they will look to us for leadership and help, and that's what we will look to provide."

After scoring a come from behind 100-95 win on Tuesday night in Waroona, the Wildcats led for virtually the whole game at Lakeside, aside from a brief patch in the second quarter, to run out nine-point winners after opening up a game-high 13-point advantage at the end of the third period.

Young gun Stephen Weigh led the way for the Wildcats with guards Kevin Lisch and Brad Robbins sitting out the clash and with Boomer Damian Martin also in Turkey for the World Championships.

Weigh scored 17 points and pulled in six rebounds in a strong performance from the small forward who looks set for an outstanding 2010/11 season.

Championship-winning captain Shawn Redhage showed that his off-season in Puerto Rico will hold him in good stead putting in a strong performance also with 16 points and 10 boards.

New recruit Cam Tovey played well as he ran the point for much of the game in the absence of the starting point guards and Lisch, and did well to finish with 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

Rookie of the Year Jesse Wagstaff came into the team after missing Tuesday's game with a sore toe and scored 12 points with shooting guard Drew Williamson also hitting 12.

Danny Brown led the way for the Lakeside All Stars to score 20 points with Ben Beran hitting 17 and pulling in six rebounds. NBA forward Anthony Tolliver had a good battle with new Wildcat Matt Knight and scored 15 points and had six boards before fouling out in the final quarter.

Game 3 of the pre-season series with the Lakeside All Stars will take place on Saturday night at the Joondalup Basketball Stadium with tickets available on 9300 1325 or welcome@wolves.asn.au.

Perth Wildcats 81 (Stephen Weigh 17, Shawn Redhage 16, Cam Tovey 13) defeated
Lakeside All Stars 72 (Danny Brown 20, Ben Beran 17, Anthony Tolliver 15)
at Lakeside Recreation Centre

Tovey spent two seasons with the Sydney Kings and the last two with the Townsville Crocodiles after beginning his NBL career with the Wildcats in the 2005/06 campaign.

He has now returned to Perth and put in an outstanding performance through the SBL season with the Willetton Tigers where he averaged 19.9 points, 8.6 rebounds and 4.7 assists.

That included a high of 41 points and then 31, nine boards and seven assists in Saturday night's grand final win over Lakeside on the back of seven triple-doubles during the season.

That was after a solid season with Townsville and Beveridge is without doubt he has seen great improvement in him and even in one area that was his downfall at Townsville, his free-throws.

"I've watched a lot of SBL games and Tovey is the best player in the SBL. He was the difference the other night and he's a triple-double waiting to happen. The thing with Cam is that he can score now and shoot the three, he is outstanding off the dribble and his free-throw percentage has improved out of sight," Beveridge said.

"He has worked so hard because he's a career 55 per cent and it has been a thorn in his side, and now he's up around 75-80 per cent. He's also an outstanding defensive player and I'm tipping that he could be the most improved player in the league with what I've seen the last few months with his attitude and dedication."

Beveridge was keen for Tovey, as well as Jesse Wagstaff, Stephen Weigh, Damian Martin and Matt Knight, to play in the SBL to gain match conditioning and work on specific things.

Tovey spent time running the point at Willetton to help with his ball handling skills and that paid off, and then he went make to his more customary swingman position and showed his value.

His shooting has also improved and Beveridge is looking forward to seeing him go at it in the 2010/11 season as the Wildcats defend their championship.

"It's been terrific for him because we wanted the players that played SBL to work on specific things and obviously Cam has done that. He's now a prolific scorer as well as a great defender so he's a complete player," Beveridge said.

"It's been beneficial for a lot of our players to play in the SBL and it's something we will encourage in the future. It's just important that we do manage their bodies and that they don't overload too much. That's probably the biggest thing and we gave Cam the day off on Monday because he's played a lot of minutes in the SBL."

The Wildcats took the court for the first time since winning the 2009/10 championship in March to open the pre-season campaign with a hard fought five-point victory over an All Stars team from Lakeside that had the help of Tolliver, who recently signed a multi-year deal with NBA team the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Despite 22 points and 11 rebounds from Tolliver, the Wildcats finished the stronger of the two teams after a tight battle all night.

There were 14 lead changes throughout the match with the scores tied a further nine times. Lakeside was in front for over 31 minutes of the game and the Wildcats just over four, but most importantly when it counted after the 40 minutes.

Lakeside started strongly moving out to a 19-13 lead before the 'Cats hit back to lead at quarter-time. It was the All Stars leading by two points at half-time and they had extended that to six heading into the last period.

The Wildcats had levelled the scores at 90 midway through the quarter, though, and then finished strongly to win by five on the back of taking care of the ball well with just seven turnovers compared to Lakeside's 19 with the other key factor being the 'Cats dominance in the paint with 52 points to 16.

Shawn Redhage led the way for Perth with 19 points on the back of 7-for-15 shooting.

Stephen Weigh scored 18 points and pulled in six rebounds, Grand Final MVP Kevin Lisch hit 17, had six assists and two steals with Matt Knight scoring 12 points, collecting five boards and dishing out three assists in his first game in Wildcats colours.

Cameron Tovey scored just three points, but pulled off seven steals with newly signed development player Greg Hire impressive with six points as he hit all three of his shots.

Tolliver showed why he has signed a two-year deal with the Timberwolves to lead the way for the Lakeside All Stars while receiving strong competition from Knight and Redhage.

Ben Beran also scored 19 points and had six boards, with Danny Brown scoring 18 with nine assists and six rebounds. Former Adelaide 36er Brad Davidson injured a hamstring and will not play the last two games with Ryan Sofoulis taking his spot.

The Wildcats and All Stars do battle again at Lakeside on Thursday night and Joondalup on Saturday.

Perth Wildcats 100 (Shawn Redhage 19, Stephen Weigh 18, Kevin Lisch 17) defeated
Lakeside All Stars 95 (Anthony Tolliver 22, Ben Beran 19, Danny Brown 18)
at Waroona Recreation Centre

The Wildcats have made the trip to Waroona to play tonight's first of three matches with the Lakeside All Stars that not only features current Minnesota Timberwolves big man Anthony Tolliver, but also former Adelaide 36er Brad Davidson and SBL stars Jarrad Prue, Luke Payne and Ben Beran.

The Lakeside team will certainly provide stiff opposition to the Wildcats in their first hit out since winning an NBL record fifth championship by beating the Wollongong Hawks in the Grand Final series in March.

Point guard Damian Martin is unavailable due to his Boomers commitment at the World Championships while reigning Rookie of the Year Jesse Wagstaff won't play tonight with a toe injury, but is expected to suit up at Lakeside on Thursday and Joondalup on Saturday.

Wildcats coach Rob Beveridge is looking forward to seeing his team in action against a side that has an unknown, but talented, quantity about it, and how new recruits Matt Knight, Cameron Tovey and Jeremiah Trueman go first up.

"They will have Luke Payne, Ben Beran and Brad Davidson from Adelaide, but obviously the big one is Anthony Tolliver coming from the NBA. He's a 6'9 athlete who averages 12 and seven a game in the NBA so he's going to be somebody that will be outstanding. How we are going to match up on him is going to be great for Matty Knight, Trueman and Redhage," Beveridge said.

"The main thing is incorporating Knight, Trueman and Tovey into our group. We've had our core group of seven together for a fair while and this will be the first time that we actually play a game. This has just come up late and I thought it was too good of an opportunity not to take. I'm not overly concerned about what the result is and whether we get beat or flog them, that's irrelevant.

"It's more about getting our guys together after we started back in June 1 with physical conditioning and last week was our first time back on court officially. We have thrown a system into play and we are going to go up against some very good players, so it will be a good test to see where we are at."

Beveridge couldn’t be happier with the way his group has tackled pre-season training already with the strength and conditioning, as well as individual work for a couple of months before on-court training officially started last week. Now the game preparation begins tonight and he can't wait.

"It's been outstanding. We started June 1, but the players got started even before that. Our players are bigger, stronger and faster. Our training over the last week has been at a different level when you see how much work they've done," Beveridge said.

"They are sharp, the new players have just fitted in great and we've got nine pre-season games to look forward to. We want to try to have a great off-season so we hit the ground running because we've got five of our first six games on the road."

Wildcats' import Kevin Lisch is looking forward to lining up for his first match since his heroics that saw him win the Larry Sengstock Medal as Grand Final MVP when the 'Cats beat Wollongong to secure the championship.

He also is familiar with Tolliver and is looking forward to seeing him in action, but is backing his new teammate Knight to do a good job on the Timberwolves forward/centre.

"I actually played with him. I went to France with him and we played for two weeks on the same team. He's a good guy, an athletic big man who can step out and shoot the ball a bit as well," Lisch said.

"It's good to have him over here and it will be good competition. I haven’t seen him play in a while, but I know that Matty can guard just about anybody so it will be great competition. Matty will do just fine though."

The Tigers claimed its second straight title after controlling the title decider throughout, with its lead above 20 from late in the second quarter.

The victory in the first Grand Final at the WA Basketball Centre gave Willetton its sixth title overall, putting it level with the Hawks on the top of the championship leader board.

Willetton's Jasmine Hooper claimed the game’s Most Valuable Player award, with the 18-year-old collecting 10 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

Zoe Harper top-scored for the Tigers with 16 while Emma Lobb was next best with 13 points from just 15 minutes.

Belinda O’Halloran put up the best effort for Perry Lakes in defeat with 11 points, while Tegan Walker added 10.

The defending champions jumped out to an 18-point lead late in the first quarter, winning the rebound count 14-4 and dominating the Hawks in the paint, where it scored 14 points to six.

Willetton kept it up in the second and extended its advantage to 29 just before half-time, led by West Coast Waves star Melissa Marsh, who had 11 points at the main break.

Perry Lakes cut Willetton’s lead to 24 after three quarters after a 10-0 run late in the period, but the Tigers held on with an 18-16 final quarter.

Willetton coach Glenn Clarke said the victory was just reward for his side’s hard work.

“Winning back-to-back is huge. All the girls train very hard and they deserve this...it’s hard to win back-to-back so it’s an awesome feeling,” he said.

Willetton Tigers 80 (Z. Harper 16; E. Lobb 13; E. Marsh 12)
Perry Lakes Hawks 54 (B. O’Halloran; T. Walker 10; R. Tobin; L. Gardner D. Jones 8)
Attendance – 800 @ WA Basketball Centre

Report by Jacob Kagi

The Tigers came back from 12 down midway through the third to secure the upset win, making it a great double for the club after it also won the women’s title Friday night.

Willetton’s Perth Wildcats forward Cam Tovey received the MVP after finishing with 31 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

Luke Payne top-scored for Lakeside with 22, while Jarrad Prue had 20 points and 21 rebounds.

Daniel Johnson led Willetton with 37 points and Alex Prince added 27.

Lakeside led 30-29 at the first break, despite a dominant effort from Prince (13 points).

The Lightning extended its advantage to 13 within four minutes of the start of the second after a 16-4 run, but Willetton cut the margin back to four with four minutes left in the half.

The difference was back to eight at the half, due largely to Prue’s 15 points and 12 rebounds in the first half.

Willetton trailed by 12 midway through the third quarter but fought back to take the lead with three minutes left in the period, thanks to an 18-4 run, with it taking a six-point lead to three-quarter-time.

The Tigers led throughout the final quarter, with a Prince three-pointer with 35 seconds left sealing the win.

Willetton coach Shayne Hampel said winning the title was a tremendous achievement.

“This club has been threatening to break through for its first championship for so long, so to finally do it is just great,” he said.

Willetton Tigers 107 (D. Johnson 37; C. Tovey 31; A. Prince 27) defeated Lakeside Lightning 96 (L. Payne 22; J. Prue 20; B. Beran 19)
Attendance – 1,836 @ WA Basketball Centre

Report by Jacob Kagi