ALTHOUGH his performance may have been overshadowed by that of a star teammate, emerging young talent Thomas Gerovich played a crucial role as the Willetton Tigers claimed a high-scoring win over the Cockburn Cougars.

The clash took place in Round 17 of the 2025 NBL1 West Men’s season on Saturday night, with just one more week remaining until the postseason kicked off. The Tigers came into the clash in fourth spot with a record of 14 wins and six losses, and their clash in Round 17 loomed as a nice tune up for the finals, given Cockburn was not going to be competing in the postseason.

It was a commanding performance from the home side at Willetton Basketball Stadium, with the Tigers proving far too strong on the offensive end and not allowing the Cougars to match that level of output. Willetton simply had too much scoring power, as evidenced by a 40-piece from Taeshon Cherry, as the Tigers cruised home to an eight-point win.

Although Cherry’s performance will take the spotlight, the outing of Gerovich was equally as important, with the young gun continuing to shine in a contending team, and playing a vital role within the starting lineup.

Willetton Tigers (127) def. Cockburn Cougars (119)

Thomas Gerovich – 25 points, five rebounds, four assists

It was a mature performance from the 21-year-old, who made the right decision with ball in hand and played an important role in the Tigers outperforming the Cougars at home on Saturday night and firming for the top four as a result.

Gerovich was involved on the first play of the game, finding teammate Tana Kopa on the perimeter with a nice dish to get scoring underway for the match and get his Tigers off to the perfect start. He then got involved on the scoring himself with a smooth midrange jumper to help Willetton out to a bigger lead a couple of minutes later. As an added bonus, he was fouled on the shot, and converted the and-one at the charity stripe to get off to a hot start.

He found Damien Scott on the cut to record his second assist of the quarter, before finishing at the cup himself through contact for his second and-one of the term as well as he was starting to take over the game. Gerovich nailed another pair of layups in the minutes that followed, before drawing contact on the drive and converting at the free throw line. At the end of the first quarter, he already had 15 points and two assists to his name and was the dominant factor in the match.

After starting the second term on the bench, Gerovich returned to the match midway through the quarter and continued to attack the paint, either drawing contact or finishing at the rim. He also recorded his third assist of the match with a nice kick out to Andrew Black, who nailed the three-pointer as the Tigers took a five-point lead into the main break.

He was back to his aggressive best in the third quarter, and although the shots were not falling as easily as the first frame, Gerovich was still having quite the say in the match. He did a lot of his damage in this period with his follow up work, chasing down offensive rebounds and tipping the ball back into the hoop after a miss. He was consistently looking to create good looks for either himself or his teammates, and helped the Tigers stretch their lead out to 11 points at the final change.

Although the fourth quarter was his quietest of the match, Gerovich popped up for an immensely clutch play down the stretch to still have a massive say in the result. With the Cougars having cut the margin down to just three points with just over a minute to play, he stepped up to finish at the cup once again with a timely layup to stretch the margin back out to five points, which was enough for the Tigers to defend.

The youngster finished the contest with 25 points, five rebounds and four assists on 9/14 shooting from the field and 7/10 shooting from the charity stripe in an excellent performance. His start to the match showed that he can light up a game on any given night and will be crucial to Willetton’s championship aspirations.