Geraldton Buccaneers pick up two wins on the road, with both games going down to the wire

Geraldton Buccaneers have come back from their trip down south with two road wins, picking up victories against the South West Slammers and Mandurah Magic, with both matches going down to the wire.

Their match against the Slammers on Saturday night, who have typically been rollovers in the past, proved to be a difficult one, with the South West team showing improvement.

Geraldton fell behind by margins of seven and nine points in the first and second quarters respectively, but they went into the half tied 50-50.

The game came down to the very last minutes, with the sides tied at 83 apiece. With just 2½ minutes left, Bob Griechen tipped in the ball off a missed shot to put the Geraldton side ahead.

Slammers’ Buay Tuach was sent to the line with just one minute remaining, making it a one-point game, but new recruit Josh Keyes hit a big three-point shot, and the game was over.

South West failed to come up with any score and Geraldton were fouled on their possession and ended up coming away with a 94-86 win.

After a quiet first game with the team, Keyes led the side in scoring with 22 points, nine rebounds and three steals, while Johny Narkle had 21 points with seven rebound and Liam Hunt dropped 19 points with 12 rebounds.

The Buccaneers didn’t have much time to rest as they hit the road and went up to Mandurah the next day to face off with the Magic.

Mandurah managed to get consecutive scores over Geraldton, getting a six-point lead in the first quarter.

After just getting one score in the first quarter, Narkle put up 11 points in the second as Geraldton fought to come back in the game as they went into the half down two points.

The third quarter was back and forth between the teams, with six different lead changes, but it ended with the Buccs still down.

They fought in the fourth quarter to stay in the game, with Narkle and Hunt combining for 20 points between them as the Buccaneers took a late lead.

With one minute remaining, Hunt put the ball up to extend the Geraldton lead by four, but the Magic’s Joel Murray put up a quick score.

A missed shot from the Buccaneers gave the Magic a chance to come back, and after a long possession, Lachlan Bertram sank a corner three to put the Mandurah side ahead with eight seconds remaining.

The Buccs called a timeout to get the ball back in their half, and with the game on the line, captain Aaron Ralph in-bounded the ball to Hunt, who backed down his defender in the paint before kicking it out to Keyes.

As Keyes attempted to put up a three, he was fouled and got sent to the line for three free throws and a chance to win the game with just under two seconds left in the game.

The newest Buccaneer iced the win for a second game in a row, hitting the first two to give the Buccs the lead before missing the third on purpose so the clock would run out.

Geraldton came away with the 104-103 win over Mandurah.

Narkle cemented himself during the game as one of the league’s top scorers with 32 points and five rebounds, while Hunt had 22 points, 10 rebounds and four assists, and Nik DeSantis had 22 points with four assists.

Now the Buccaneers are back home, where they will take on Lakeside Lightning at Activewest Stadium on Saturday, April 20.