Mandurah Magic men fall despite spirited performance against Joondalup Wolves

The Magic fought hard and pushed a top-three Wolves outfit until the final quarter despite losing Rick Kreklow to injury early, but it wasn’t enough to surpass a Wolves outfit that had their eye in on offence as Joondalup claimed a 90-78 win.

Both teams fought hard in the opening half of the game with Joondalup heading into the long break holding a six-point lead.

But the third quarter would eventuate to be a defining one as both sides put together prolific displays on offence.

The Magic continuously found ways to score against a highly touted Wolves defence, but struggled to stop them on the other end of the court.

The Wolves were returning the favour and had all the answers for the Magic, as Joondalup won the high-scoring quarter 30-28 to stretch their lead to eight at the final interval.

Led by a monster performance from import Will McNeill, the Magic fought hard to try and will themselves back into the contest, but a professional Wolves outfit held on for the win.

McNeill finished with a stunning 24 points, 12 rebounds and four assists, with his mid-range shooting constantly giving life to Mandurah’s offence.

Taylor Mullenax was also in fine touch for Mandurah, tallying 19 points to go with his six rebounds on the night.

Mandurah will look to take their solid form across their last three weeks and turn it into a win when they take on the Kalamunda Eastern Suns at Ray Owen Sports Centre tonight.

Mandurah has lost their last five games with only the Wolves match exceeding a single-digit margin.

The Suns sit in 13^th on the ladder just one spot above the Magic.

Last time they met it was the Suns coming away with the win despite a huge fightback from Mandurah in the second half.

The Magic will be out for redemption this time around.