ALTHOUGH the Cockburn Cougars fell five points short in their clash against the Mandurah Magic in Round 3 of the NBL1 West Men’s over the weekend, rising talent Josh Hunt was one of the better performers.

The two sides had enjoyed two very different starts to the season, with the Cougars searching for their first win, while the Magic had started the fixture as one of the form teams of the competition, looking extremely dangerous over the first fortnight and winning two of their first three games.

Despite the disparity in form, Cockburn was putting up a serious fight against the Magic at Wally Hagan Stadium on Thursday night, storming out of the gates to lead by 10 points at the first change. As expected, Mandurah returned serve in the second frame, and led by five points at the final change, and although the Cougars got within four points on several occasions, it was not enough as the Magic held on for a win.

Although the loss is disappointing, the performance of Hunt was certainly a positive for the Cougars, with the 23-year-old continuing his strong start to the season.

Cockburn Cougars (95) def. by Mandurah Magic (100)

Josh Hunt – 22 points, two rebounds, seven assists, two steals

The Magic ended up taking the chocolates in the Round 3 clash on Thursday, Hunt certainly put his name in lights with yet another strong outing.

He was a major reason for the Cougars getting off to such a strong start, performing extremely well in the first quarter of the match. He got going with a nice pass to Kortland Martin, who nailed the triple off a nice kick out pass for Hunt’s first assist of the match.

The Perth native combined again with Martin a couple of minutes later, but reversed the roles this time with Hunt recording his first made basket of the match in the form of a smooth three-pointer to give Cockburn the lead in the opening stages of the contest.

Hunt popped up again for a nice floater shortly after, finding space amongst the defence to get a good look at the basket and converting truly. He combined with Martin yet again, dishing out to the perimeter as the former college gun nailed yet another three-pointer, and the Cougars were off to their best start of the season on the offensive end.

Hunt recorded his third assist of the match with a classy feed inside to a cutting Nathan Lane, who converted the and-one after receiving the ball in a scoring position. The 23-year-old got involved on the scoring front once again, nailing a driving layup and another three-pointer to finish the first quarter with 10 points and three assists in a red hot start to the contest.

The second quarter was more of the same for Hunt, although his team began to cough up their early lead as Mandurah made a charge on the scoreboard. He returned to the game a couple of minutes into the period, and picked up where he left off with another floater and three-pointer as he looked to keep Cockburn in front.

Although he received a bit more defensive attention as the game rolled on, he still found his rhythm with a pair of midrange jumpers on the eve of half time, and had 19 points to his name at the main change in a dominant display.

While he finished off the game a lot quieter than he started it, with the defence much more switched onto his movements, he still finished with 22 points and seven assists in his best performance of the season and hopefully an indication of what is to come.