The Goldfields Giants scored a pair home wins over the East Perth Eagles in Sunday's NBL1 West while there were ejections and plenty of drama as Nik DeSantis led the Geraldton Buccaneers to another impressive win over the Perth Redbacks.
The lone Sunday night NBL1 West women's match up for the WA Day long weekend saw the Goldfields Giants beat the East Perth Eagles 78-66.
The Giants men backed that up also beating the Eagles 109-88 while the Geraldton Buccaneers defeated the Perth Redbacks 91-85.
RECAP NBL1 WEST | HERITAGE ROUND SATURDAY
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RECAP NBL1 WEST | HERITAGE ROUND FRIDAY
HERITAGE ROUND – THE FISHER FAMILY
HERITAGE ROUND – THE JACKSON FAMILY
NBL1 WEST MID-SEASON SNAPSHOT – MEN
NBL1 WEST MID-SEASON SNAPSHOT – WOMEN
WOMEN
Goldfields Giants (78) defeated East Perth Eagles (66)
The Goldfields Giants produced their best and most complete performance of the season for the Sunday night 78-66 home win against the East Perth Eagles.
Both teams were on the hunt for a third win of the season and to start building some momentum for the back end of the campaign, and were coming off losses earlier in the round.
The Eagles went down at home to the Perth Redbacks back on Friday night while the Giants also lost in Kalgoorlie to the Rockingham Flames the previous evening.
The Giants were hunting a first win of the season against a team other than the South West Slammers and they got off to an impressive start opening up a 12-point advantage in the first quarter.
Goldfields were still leading 29-19 by the end of one before then holding East Perth to five points the entire second quarter. The Giants added another 15 points and that saw them go into half-time on top 44-24.
Even though the Eagles outscored the Giants 42 points to 34 in the second half, and did have some momentum going into three quarter-time thanks to a late triple from Bri Bailey, they could never quite get close enough to seriously threaten.
East Perth did get as close as eight points with 4:30 to go as well following a three ball from Sarah Allen, but Jhazmin Joson answered in kind for the Giants and the home team ended up scoring the 12-point victory.
It's a third win of the season for Goldfields but a first against a team other than a Slammers team who has gone winless for more than two years.
There was a lot to like in what the Giants produced with Alex Clinch Hoycard delivering the best performance of her 29-game career for the Giants with 16 points, 11 rebounds and three assists on 4/6 three-point shooting.
Jhazmin Joson also hit 3/5 from downtown on her way to 15 points, four rebounds and four assists with Lauren Fech contributing 12 points, eight boards and five assists.
Anne Zipser added nine points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots, Chloe Zorzi eight points, three boards and two assists, Ash Sidebottom five points, six rebounds and two assists, and Kate Sidebottom five points and three boards.
The Eagles slip to a 2-9 record on the season with the two losses this weekend and being unable to back up last week's stirring win on the road against the Joondalup Wolves.
Laci Hawthorne finished with 16 points and six rebounds for East Perth with Bri Bailey adding 15 points, six boards, three assists and two steals, and Mary Goulding 12 points, 10 rebounds and three steals who came back into the team while Mary Baskerville wasn’t able to play.
Captain Tessa Morrison did what she could with 11 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals while Sarah Allen added nine points, eight assists and seven boards.
The Eagles are back home to host the Joondalup Wolves this Friday night with the Giants on the road for a double to Perry Lakes on Saturday and Cockburn on Sunday.
GOLDFIELDS GIANTS 78 (Clinch Hoycard 16, Joson 15, Fech 12)
EAST PERTH EAGLES 66 (Hawthorne 16, Bailey 15, Goulding 12)
MEN
Geraldton Buccaneers (91) defeated Perth Redbacks (85)
On a night with a star player from each team ejected, 57 foul shots taken and plenty of tense and dramatic moments, it was the defending champion Geraldton Buccaneers prevailing 91-85 against the Perth Redbacks.
Games at Active West Stadium never fail to be heated, dramatic and often tight affairs, and Sunday night as part of the WA Day long weekend was no different with the Buccaneers at home for a second game in the space of 24 hours.
The Buccs maintained top spot in the NBL1 West with the Saturday night win also at home in the Grand Final rematch with the Joondalup Wolves where they welcomed back former MVP Josh Braun and unveiled new signing Junior Garbrah.
Meanwhile, the Redbacks arrived in Geraldton after Friday night's defeat to the East Perth Eagles and attempting to snap a four-game losing slide but having welcomed back star guard Joe Cook-Green this weekend from injury.
The Redbacks then made the fast start away from home getting out to a 13-4 advantage when Cook-Green knocked down a three ball and forcing Geraldton coach Dayle Joseph into an early timeout.
Buccs captain Aaron Ralph knocked down a three ball shortly after the timeout and by the time Nik DeSantis also landed from deep shortly before quarter-time, Geraldton had taken the lead and would be in front 26-24 after one.
The Buccaneers did open up a nine-point lead in the second quarter but by half-time Perth had stayed in touch and limited the deficit to 50-45.
Geraldton would end up extending that lead to seven by three quarter-time but it was quite the dramatic and fiery start to the fourth term.
Things had been threatening to spill over all evening with tempers flaring between both teams and it was no surprise that Ralph, Mat Wundenberg and Cook-Green were at the centre of a lot of it.
The Redbacks pulled back within two points when Miles Gibson hit a three-pointer but that's where the drama started. Ralph collided with Redbacks centre Ioannis Dimakopoulos under the bucket.
The referees called the unsportsmanlike on Ralph which led to his ejection with seven minutes to play given he had picked up a technical earlier in the night.
That set the stage for a dramatic last seven minutes and it was a huge three from Liam Hunt with 2:30 that pushed the Buccs back out to an eight-point lead.
Cook-Green then joined Ralph in taking an early shower when he picked up a second technical in the final two minutes, and while the Redbacks kept throwing everything at the comeback, Geraldton did enough for the six-point win.
The Buccaneers improve to 12-1 on the season to retain top spot with the pair of home wins this weekend even with Josh Braun sitting out again on Sunday and Johny Narkle missing both games.
South Australian recruit Nik DeSantis was outstanding and only narrowly missed a triple-double for a second time in the space of 24 hours delivering another 28 points, nine rebounds and nine assists with 4/8 three-point shooting and going 8/8 at the free-throw line.
Liam Hunt added 23 points, nine rebounds and four assists, Joshua Keyes 17 points, nine boards, five assists and two blocked shots, Aaron Ralph eight points and seven rebounds before being ejected, and new signing Junior Garbrah four points and a steal in almost 20 minutes.
The Redbacks have now lost five straight after their two defeats this weekend to be 4-11 on the season with Miles Gibson finishing with another 24 points and 11 rebounds.
Before leaving the game early with just over a minute to go, Joe Cook-Green had 23 points, eight assists, five rebounds and three steals while Maris Colton contributed 14 points and six boards.
Ioannis Dimakopoulos also had 13 points, five rebounds and two blocks with captain Tevin Jackson fighting through a finger injury for nine points, four rebounds and three assists.
The Buccs remain at home next Saturday night to the Warwick Senators while the Redbacks remain on the road to the Lakeside Lightning on Friday.
GERALDTON BUCCANEERS 91 (DeSantis 28, Hunt 23, Keyes 17)
PERTH REDBACKS 85 (Gibson 24, Cook-Green 23, Colton 14)
Goldfields Giants (109) defeated East Perth Eagles (88)
The Goldfields Giants are now getting reward for their efforts this season making it a double win weekend with the 109-88 win against the in-form East Perth Eagles on Sunday night.
Both teams had scored impressive wins earlier in the weekend setting up a tantalising match up to end the round across the WA Day long weekend at Niels Hansen Basketball Stadium.
The Eagles made it five wins in their past six matches with the win at home to the Perth Redbacks on Friday while the Giants backed up their double overtime win against Lakeside by beating the Rockingham Flames on Saturday night also in Kalgoorlie.
It was a real chance for one of the teams to make a statement of their championship aspirations this season and it was the Giants who got the better of the start to be leading 31-25 by the end of the first quarter having opened up a 15-point lead along the way.
East Perth had done well to work back into the contest, but Goldfields continued to pull away again and went into the half-time break leading 52-42.
The Giants then blew the game wide open in the third quarter opening up a 25-point advantage and ending up outscoring the Eagles 32 points to 22 to go into three quarter-time with the 84-64 lead.
There would be no comeback on this occasion from East Perth with Goldfields going on to win by 21 points on a night where they shot 54.1 per cent from the field and had all five starters making big contributions.
The Giants might have lost six games this season, but in each of those they were in a winning position and now over the past three matches in wins over Lakeside, Rockingham and East Perth, they are getting rewards for the work they are putting in.
They now improve to a 7-6 record on the back of 33 points, nine rebounds and four assists from De'Sean Parsons who shot 11/16 from the field and 11/15 at the foul line.
Randy Bell had another strong night with 23 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds with Kon Anguik contributing 20 points, eight boards, three assists and two steals.
Mayo Malek also battled hard for 14 points and six rebounds on 6/9 shooting with Damon Ballantyne adding 14 points, four assists, three steals and two rebounds.
Despite the loss, the Eagles are still well positioned this season with a 7-6 record and with import big Lukas Milner set to make his first appearance this season next weekend.
Sunday Dech finished with 21 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals for East Perth with Taylor Young contributing 18 points, four boards, three assists and two steals, Sebit Reath 17 points and five rebounds, and Lee Roberts 11 points and 15 rebounds.
The Eagles are back home to host the Joondalup Wolves this Friday night with the Giants on the road for a double to Perry Lakes on Saturday and Cockburn on Sunday.
GOLDFIELDS GIANTS 109 (Parsons 33, Bell 23, Anguik 20)
EAST PERTH EAGLES 88 (Dech 21, Young 18, Reath 17)
