Geraldton Buccaneers get off to a perfect start in NBL1 West opening weekend

The Geraldton Buccaneers got their season off to a perfect start picking up two wins from two away games. The Buccs defeated the South West Slammers 94-62 on Saturday night. Coming up against the Slammers for the first time in nearly two years, coach Dayle Joseph said he didn’t know how they were going to match up against a new coach and players. “So it was still a little unknown how we go all playing together and then what the opposition was going to throw at us.” Joseph was impressed by his side’s performance in the opening weekend of the NBL1 West season. “We took a little bit to get started and it was good, we made sure that we won every quarter and worked hard all the way through to improve some of the things we need to be a lot better at being our first hit out.” However, Joseph said there was still lots to improve on from the first game. “You know, we’re still rusty, there’s no doubt about it, we missed some assignments, we probably let them rebound a bit more than we would like, but that’s something we haven’t worked on at training.” Cameron Coleman stood out for the Buccs scoring 27 points. “The first game Cameron played a bit of a blinder for us and kept the scoreboard ticking over regularly. For his first hit out with the group that was a really good start on his behalf.” With a victory under their belt they turned their attention to Sunday’s game against the Mandurah Magic In an overtime thriller, the two teams traded leads before the Buccs prevailed 99-90. “It was pretty high standard from both teams to be fair for this time of the year. It had its ups and downs, like any two quality teams would have against each other.” The Buccs were 12 points down with five minutes to go, but managed to turn it around to force overtime. Joseph hailed the fighting spirit of his side to get back in into the game. “To our credit we knuckled down, and all of a sudden it was, a tie with four seconds to go, which gave us an opportunity to win it with one shot at the end but we had to go to overtime to finish the job off, which was pretty awesome. He said their fitness gave them an edge over the Magic going into overtime. “I think we were quite fresh you know, going into that last few minutes and I think that might have been to our advantage,” he said. The Buccs have an Easter bye this weekend, and will return to action away from home against the Willetton Tigers and Lakeside Lightning on April 23 and 24.